A Boys Wish
by Riolu16
Summary: A boy named Damian has an unfair life. Parents arguing, his sister suffering, the list goes on. That is until Celebi grants him the wish of a lifetime, a new lifetime that is. Read and venture with Damian in his new life as a Riolu on Celebi's planet! This is my very first fanfic I started when I was 12 and stopped at 14. ENJOY!


CHAPTER 1

It was 6th period, gym; I played a great game of dodge ball and headed to the locker room to get all my stuff and go.

Being a junior in high school is awesome.

I have so many friends and people who enjoy my company.

It's wonderful.

I stayed outside with my friends and we talked about new movies, games and other guy stuff.

My mom beeped her horn in the distance.

"Alright guys, later!" I shouted back at them as I ran toward my mom's Subaru.

I hopped in and mom said, "How was your day?"

I frowned and said, "Eh, just like any other day."

Okay I lied, I'm not popular.

I have like, a few friends and that's it.

Everyone else just doesn't like me for some reason.

My mom and dad were constantly arguing, so most of the time, I was out of the house with my little sister, Rachel.

I didn't really like my life, I didn't hate it, I just, don't like it.

We got home and dad gave a kiss to mom.

"Hi honey," dad said.

I just got out of the car, went inside, and plopped my book bag down as I entered my nice comfy room.

Friday means no homework.

I'm ready for a big day today.

I'm going to the movies with my friends, then we're all just going to hang out at Darren's place.

I got my phone ready, and dialed Darren's number.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEE- "Hello?" Darren's mom answered.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Richards. It's Damian. Is Darren there?" I asked.

"Uhh, yep here he is-"

"Okay, so that's 12 pepperoni's right?" he joked.

"Yes sir. Pepperoni pizza with no cheese, no crust, no sauce, and no pepperoni. Ha-ha. What's up Darren?" I joked back.

"Oh you know just chilling, playing video games. You?"

"About to come over to your house. Don't tell me you forgot."

"No, I didn't forget. Just get over here ASAP. My dad said if you're not here by the time he gets back, you can't stay the night."

"Alright, I'm going now. See yah."

"Later"

I hung up the phone and hopped on my bike outside.

"Where you going?" Dad asked.

"Darren's." I replied.

"Come on, tonight? We were going to do a family night tonight."

"I gotta get going now dad. Next week I'll do family night. I promise."

"Alright, have fun, don't get run over."

I laughed and replied, "I won't."

I rode down the block, out the neighborhood, and to Darren's house.

I decided to call Rachel and see how she was doing.

She loved my company.

I heard yelling in the background.

_Dammit, they're at it again. _

"Damian, can I please come with you? Mommy and daddy are fighting and I don't want to hear it." Rachel asked.

I don't want Rachel to be home with mom and dad arguing, but I don't want to miss Darren either.

I sighed and thought over this.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was riding, so I tripped over a crack in the ground and I was sent flying and my phone flew into the woods.

"Ohh, my arm." I whined in pain.

There was a giant scrape on my forearm.

I wobbled up and went to get my phone from the woods.

It was lying in a pile of leaves.

I picked it up and dusted it off.

The phone was hung up, so I just put it back in my pocket and attended to my scraped arm.

I took my lucky scarf out of my other pocket and covered the wound with it.

It was bleeding pretty badly.

These kinds of things happen to me all the time, another reason why I just don't enjoy my own life.

"Hi there, are you okay?" a little girl voice asked from behind me.

I turned around and saw nothing, and then I looked all around to find out where the person was.

"(Giggles) I'm down here," she stated playfully.

In front of me was a 2 foot tall, green, floating creature that I'd never seen before.

How the heck was it floating in midair? I didn't know what to feel, I was amazed, scared, shocked, and confused.

"H-Who are you?" I muttered nervously.

She giggled and said, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. My name is Celebi."

"I-I'm Damian," I replied.

"Here, let me see your arm," she demanded softly.

I took off the scarf and extended my arm out for Celebi.

She put her small stubby arms against the wound and small light waves surrounded my scraped arm.

When she stopped, there was no blood or scar there!

It just, disappeared.

"Hmm, so Damian, please be honest with me because I can tell if you're lying. How much do you enjoy your life?" she asked with a small frown.

I sighed and responded after a minute of thinking to myself.

I nodded no, sighed, and said, "No, not really. My parents always argue with each other, my sister is always suffering due to that, I have barely any friends.(Sigh) I just wish I could start my life all over again. As someone or something different than who I am today. I don't want to be Damian anymore."

Celebi stared at me sympathetically.

She felt sorry for me.

"I'm sorry that had to happen to you. I just want to ask you something though Damian. Okay, what if, I could reset your life for you and you could live somewhere far from Earth. You can be a creature with others just like you and they will all treat you fairly for who you are," she said with a grin.

I just laughed and said, "That's impossible. You can't just reset my life. There is no way it could ever happen to anyone."

"Okay, maybe I can't. But if I could, would you want to do it?"

"Well, yeah. Definitely-"

"Stand still," she demanded.

Suddenly, she reached her stubby arms out, and what looked like stardust began to flow around my body.

"W-What are you doing?" I asked nervously.

My body began to tingle, then, everything went black.

I couldn't see anything, just darkness.

I was unconscious.

After a short period of time, I woke up.

"Ohh, man where am I?" I asked myself.

I scratched the back of my head and noticed something different about it.

I didn't have my long hair anymore; my hair was really short, like fur.

I looked at my hands, "AHH!" I shouted in fear.

My hands weren't hands anymore, they were paws. Blue paws.

I looked at every aspect of my body. What's going on? Am I dreaming?

I smacked myself hard.

"Owchies!" I shouted in pain.

_Oh man, I'm not dreaming. _

I also couldn't remember my name, I knew that I was a human before, but I just didn't know my name.

Suddenly, Celebi's voice rung in my head and muttered, "Riolu, your name is Riolu."

_Okay, so my name is Riolu, but what kind of animal am I?_

"Hey you, kid. Are you lost?" a boys voice asked from behind me.

"I-I umm…" I mumbled in reply.

"Where are your parents?" I looked back at him.

He was light green, about my height and had big eyes with yellow backgrounds in them.

I just looked down and sighed. "Ohh, I see. You just hatched today. Sorry your parents are gone. You can come with me if you'd like. I'm Treeko and you are..." he greeted politely.

"Riolu," I replied nervously.

"Riolu? You're the last of your kind. I guess we'll have to find Lucario then."

"Who's that?" I asked Treeko.

"Lucario is your evolved form. Apparently, you're the last Riolu alive and he's the last Lucario alive. Luckily, I know someone who can help contact him."

Treeko walked quickly, I followed him.

Then, we ran.

Eventually, we stopped at an old cave.

"Alright, we're here. I'll be back in a few seconds okay?" Treeko said.

I nodded in reply.

He went in the cave and he was in there for about 10 minutes, he came back out with a light brown bird with a rolled up note in its beak.

"Ooh, so this is Riolu. Nice to meet you, I'm Farfetch'd." the bird said.

"He's the messenger of Digotia. The place we live in right now." Treeko said.

I didn't say anything in reply to them.

"Is he shy?" Farfetch'd asked Treeko.

"Not sure yet, I've only known him for 30 minutes," Treeko replied.

Finally I said, "H-Hi, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. You know, you're very special. Yep, you're the last Riolu alive right now," Farfetch'd replied.

_There's more Riolu's than me?_

"Okay, so you think you can get that message to Lucario?" Treeko asked Farfetch'd.

"I know I can," Farfetch'd replied.

He lifted off into the sky.

"Thanks Farfetch'd! I owe ya one!" Treeko said.

"Don't mention it!" Farfetch'd replied.

"Say bye Riolu," Treeko said.

"Oh, Bye!" I shouted.

It kind of felt like they were talking to me like I was a baby.

Telling me to say bye and stuff like that.

I'm not stupid; I'm just a little confused, this all new to me.

He waved, and then left.

"So, whaddya wanna do Riolu?" Treeko asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked back.

"Well, you just hatched today, so do want to explore the forest, play a game, is there anything you like to do for fun?" he asked in reply.

I thought for a minute.

"Umm, let's play a game," I said.

"Okay! What do you know how to play?" he asked.

I didn't respond. _What do I know how to play? _

"Oh, I know a game we could play, it's called, tag. First, I have to chase you and try to tag you with my hand. After that, you have to try and tag me with your paw. Got it?" Treeko said.

"Yeah I got it." I replied.

"Alright, let's practice first. (He tags me and runs) Now try to tag me," he said.

I chased after him and tagged him.

Man, I could run fast.

"Alright, ready for the real thing?" Treeko asked.

I nodded yes.

"Alright… GO!" he shouted.

He came after me and I just ran toward a boulder.

Dead end.

"Gotcha now Riolu," he said with a smirk.

I looked at him, then back at the rock, and smiled.

It was too big to jump over, so only had one choice, I gotta wall jump off of it.

Treeko ran toward me with his hand out.

As soon as he was 5 feet away, I jumped up, pressed my foot against the rock, and hopped right over him.

"Bye!" I shouted.

I chuckled as I ran.

I kept looking back to see if he was following me.

He was, but looking back had its consequences.

BAM!

My face slammed right into something…

No, it was someone.

"Hey! Watch it you little punk!" the figure said.

He was short; light brown, had a bone in one of his hands, stubby arms and legs, had a tail and a skull covered his face.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean t-"

"Don't give me that! You did that on purpose!" he shouted.

"Hey! Leave 'em alone Marowak!" Treeko demanded.

Marowak lifted his bone, ready to attack me and said, "Mind your own business Treeko, unless you want to end up like he's about to be."

"He is my business. I'm taking care of him right now! IF YOU EVEN TOUCH HIM, I will beat you down!" Treeko shouted angrily.

Marowak lifted me up by my neck lifting his bone, ready to slam me with it.

He had a menacing laugh.

"You mean, like this?" Marowak said haughtily.

BAM!

Face full of bone.

It sent me flying at least 4 feet.

It hurt badly.

My nose was bleeding.

I grabbed it with both my paws and sat up.

I moaned in pain.

"Hey! That hurt!" I shouted at Marowak.

Treeko controlled vines in the ground and started smacking Marowak around with them.

"I told you not to touch him!" he shouted.

Marowak struggled and said, "You said not to touch him, notice how I did not touch him, but hit him with my bone. HA! And you think I'm supposed to be scared of a little weakling like you? You couldn't beat me for him if your life depended on it, oh wait, it does!"

Treeko made leaves magically float in the air and sent them flying at Marowak.

The impact knocked Marowak over.

Marowak just got up and threw his bone at Treeko.

Treeko just dodged it and hit him with those vines again.

I sat and watched the fight in amazement, I looked at my paws, and they were covered in blood.

It started to hurt twice as bad now; I started to cry because it was so painful.

"Aww, the little hatchling is crying," Marowak taunted.

"Leave Him ALONE!" Treeko shouted, punching Marowak right in the face knocking him out cold.

Then Treeko ran to me.

I was still crying in pain.

"Riolu, are you okay?" he asked.

"Kinda," I cried.

Treeko looked around and saw a bush.

He walked toward it and pulled a couple of leaves off of it.

"Put your paws down," he demanded.

I did as he told me to.

I placed a leaf against my nose, and it started to sting really badly.

I jumped up, moved back fast, and grabbed my nose.

"Oww! That stuff hurts!" I whined.

Treeko walked toward me slowly and said, "Riolu, it might hurt now, but I promise you it will feel better afterward."

I sighed and walked toward him and put my paws down to my sides. He placed another leaf on my nose. I sucked air through my teeth in pain.

He rubbed the leaf around my nose slowly.

Then he dropped the leaves, and gave me a hug.

He put his hands on my shoulders and said, "There, do you feel better now?"

I laughed because there was no pain in my nose.

I also noticed that my tail was wagging.

"I'll take that as a yes," Treeko said.

"Thank you Treeko," I said gratefully, giving him a big hug.

He chuckled and said, "Your welcome Riolu."

He ruffled the fur on top of my head playfully with his hand.

"We should get you a bath, no offense, but you are dirty," Treeko said.

He was right, I smelt like sweat and blood (Well duh -_-).

Treeko took me to a nearby pond.

The water felt great, it was nice and warm.

I just rubbed my paws around my body to clean myself.

I didn't want Treeko to do it that would just be weird.

When I was clean, I just had fun in the water; I was splashing water at Treeko playfully.

"Hey, don't make me come in there!" he yelled playfully.

I stopped for a little bit, splashed him again when his guard was down, and then I looked away like nothing happened.

Treeko splashed me so hard, it knocked me underwater.

It was a wave.

Treeko gasped and shouted, "RIOLU! I'm coming!"

The water wasn't that deep though.

Treeko jumped in and grabbed my arm, pulling me to shore.

"Riolu, I'm so sorry for that. Are you alright?" he said.

I pretended to look hurt.

He leaned in closer, "R-Riolu?"

I was going to joke with him, but since he was serious, I didn't want him to feel terrible.

"Treeko, it's okay. I'm fine. I was gonna play a joke on you, but it wasn't a good thing to joke about. I'm sorry," I said with my head down.

He wiped his face and said, "it's okay Riolu, I forgive you. I'm sorry for splashing you too hard."

"I forgive you," I said back giving him a small hug. "Alright, let's get back to the cave; it's getting late, "Treeko said. I started to feel hungry.

"Umm, Treeko? Can we eat something?" I asked him.

"Don't worry, Farfetch'd has some berries at his cave," Treeko said.

I dried off my fur by shaking my body around.

When I was completely dry, Treeko started to giggle.

"What's so funny?" I asked him. I

looked at my reflection in the water, I looked like I was just I a wind tunnel (My fur was all poofy).

Then Treeko busted out laughing.

And, so did I.

"You look like Flaafy!" Treeko remarked.

"HA-HA yeah!" I replied, not even knowing what Flaafy was.

To let you know, Flaafy is the electric sheep Pokémon.

"C'mon, let's get home," he replied. The whole way, we continued to laugh at my humorous appearance.

CHAPTER 2

When Treeko and I got back to the cave, I suggested that I fix my fur back to normal.

Treeko stopped me and said, "No way! I want Farfetch'd to see it."

"Hey, where is he anyways?" I asked.

"Dunno, should've been back by now." Treeko replied.

Farfetch'd flew in as if on cue.

"Took ya long enough. Where's Lucario?" Treeko remarked.

"He said he wants you to-(Looks at me, then giggles) Oh, is this your friend Flaafy? What happened to Riolu?" he joked.

"HA! I said the same thing!" Treeko replied.

We all took a small moment to laugh, then got back to business.

"He said you have to come to him because he's kinda busy right now."

"Well, could you take us to him?" Treeko asked.

"Sure, but you should get ready, he's really far away and- Whoa! Riolu, what happened to your nose?" Farfetch'd asked in awe.

"Marowak hit 'em. I took care of it though." Treeko replied for me.

"Good, that Marowak bugs me all the way. I can't stand his bullying tendencies." Farfetch'd snarled.

We got small bags of food and left with Farfetch'd to find Lucario.

On the way there, we all talked about the whole Marowak thing, Treeko also bragged about how well I was at tag.

"Does your nose still hurt?" Farfetch'd asked.

"It stings every once and awhile, but I'm okay." I replied.

"That's really tough for a hatchling. I'm surprised you're still alive after that hit." Treeko said.

"Yeah, you're blessed by Arceus." Farfetch'd said.

I turned my head and plopped my ears down in confusion.

"Who's Arceus?" I asked.

"Ooh, he needs a short lesson on who Arceus is. Okay, Arceus is the creator of this whole world. He made you, me, Treeko, nature, everything. He's the world's ruler. Then we have Dialga and Palkia. His assistants in the worlds creation. Palkia was the creator of space while Dialga created time. You got it?" Farfetch'd lectured.

"Wow, Arceus must be very strong," I said.

"Yeah, hey it's getting pretty late. Doncha think we should get to sleep?" Treeko asked.

"Hmm… I guess you're right. It is becoming dark. Alright, we can sleep in this tree," Farfetch'd replied.

He pointed at a large tree that looked great in the sundown.

Treeko jumped swiftly from branch to branch and found a thick enough spot for him to sleep on.

Farfetch'd just flew, and I was slow in climbing to a good branch that might be strong enough to sleep on.

Finally, I found one close to Treeko's that felt pretty sturdy.

I got comfortable on the branch and said, "Good night."

They both said good night back.

That night I had a great sleep, perfect for ending a long first day of being alive. In my dream, I was still Riolu, and I was in a huge area with nothing around me, just the color white.

Also, everywhere I stepped, blue particles rose upward out of the ground.

"W-W-Where am I?" I asked.

My question echoed throughout the never ending place I was in.

No response.

"HELLO?" I asked with a raised voice.

Another echo of my own voice.

Suddenly, the ground changed form, now it was a large mirror.

I looked at the ground and inspected myself thoroughly.

To be honest, I'd liked what I had seen below me.

I enjoyed my appearance, and secretly, I thought I looked adorable.

I know it sounds weird, but that's the truth.

I noticed my tail wagging, I was happy with myself.

Suddenly, a noise echoed throughout the whole place.

It wasn't me either.

It sounded like someone dropped their books in a school hallway.

I looked all around, and then I saw… Celebi!

"Tee-hee, I take it you're enjoying being a Riolu," she said.

She was floating in midair, with her chin resting on her hands, and she was lying on her stomach.

Again, in midair.

"What makes you say that?" I asked. "

I couldn't help but notice how cute it is when you wag your tail. Plus, I can read your thoughts," Celebi replied.

I blushed in embarrassment and grabbed my tail to make it stop wagging.

"That's a good thing, don't try and stop your tail from wagging. It's good to take advantage of how cute you are. You thought the same way just now. I know th

at was a personal thought, sorry for reading that thought. So, how have you been liking your life so far Riolu?" she said and asked.

"I've only been hatched for one day, and I can't remember much about my past. Other than that, I love my life. I love having Treeko as a best friend. It's good to know I have others that care about me. Well, despite Marowak beating me up yesterday. But, I just wanted to say, thank you. I appreciate this a lot," I said, with small tears trickling down my face.

Her eyes widened as she heard me say that.

"I see you really appreciate what I have done to help you. Riolu let me tell you something. You didn't deserve your old life. You were too good to have a life like your own. You deserved better than that. So, that's why I helped you. Honestly, I've been watching you longer than you think. At school, at home, pretty much everywhere, except the bathroom. I'm really glad you accepted my offer to change your life," Celebi added.

That was really nice of her.

She helped me to get away from a bad life that I didn't deserve.

I went up and gave her a hug.

At first she shocked because I hugged her before she could even read my thought.

I began to sob over her shoulder.

Then, she hugged back.

"Riolu, don't cry. Shh, it's okay. I understand how grateful you are of my favor."

I couldn't stop crying, I was too emotional right now.

"Th-thank you so much C-C-Celib-bi. You saved me from a disaster. I'll never forget how you helped me." I cried.

"I'll never forget you either Riolu. But there's one thing I have to do though. And, I'm very sorry for it. Arceus demanded that I do it." she said softly.

I sniffled and wiped some tears out of my fur.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I… have to… (Sigh) wipe out your memory of most of your human life. Why? Because Arceus wants to be safe and doesn't want you slip up on anything about being a human. He's Arceus, the Pokémon ruler. We all have to listen to him if we are given demands," she said softly.

I sighed deeply.

It wasn't because I was angry, but because I was worried.

I don't know why I was worried, for some reason, I just didn't want my human memory to go away.

I began to cry again, and I gave her another tight hug.

She comforted me by rubbing her hand down the back of my head slowly.

Rocking me back and forth gently.

She was about my size now.

I continued to cry into her shoulder.

"Riolu, Arceus told me only to erase all the large details from your past. Things like your name, people you used to know, and other stuff like that. Also, if you do happen to slip up with the small details you remember, well, you won't be able to. If you try and say anything about being a human, you will instantly say something totally different. You will also remember me and a couple other things, but that's it. This was the only way Arceus was going to allow me to change your life as one of ours. I hope you understand," Celebi muttered.

"No, I-I under-s-stand. But, (Sigh) is it okay if I see how my family is doing for the last time?" I asked.

I was breathing shakily.

"No, I'm sorry. We don't have time. Arceus is busy as ever. He was very lenient just to help you; we'd have to get his permission first. I'm very sorry," she said.

"No-No Th-that's okay. (Sigh) I'm ready." I said strongly.

She nodded and blinked, then put her arms out.

We broke apart the hug and I wiped any remaining tears off my face.

I tried smiling and thinking of the good that comes to this.

"Wait, before you wipe my memory. Will I ever see you again?" I asked.

"Probably not for a long time. Arceus needs me. If I ever do get the chance, then I'll definitely come and visit you. But only in your dreams. I didn't know if you already knew or not, but you're dreaming right now. Once I do this, you will wake up and it will be morning time, and you will resume your journey with finding Lucario. I hope all go well in your new life," she stated.

"Yeah, and I'll make sure I embrace my cuteness, even though it might seem girly," I joked.

She giggled and said, "Don't. Just be yourself, not brag about how cute you are. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good, anything else before I leave?"

"Nope, I'm ready. Good bye Celebi. I'll be looking forward to your next visit."

"Good bye to you too Riolu. And good luck. But one more thing, tell Lucario I said Hi."

"I will, for sure."

"Okay, now hold still."

I did as she told me to.

She had her arms facing me, then toward the mirror ground and she made a circle.

A ball of light came out of my head, and that was it.

My eyes shot open.

I was still on the branch and it was really early in the morning.

The sun just rose.

Treeko and Farfetch'd were still asleep on their branches.

I crept down the tree in silence.

I decided to look around the area a bit.

But I remained close to the tree.

I couldn't remember anything that Celebi had told me about.

I looked at the clouds and said, "Thank you Arceus, and Celebi."

I saw a cloud that instantly formed to look like the words, YOU'RE WELCOME.

I just smiled and looked down.

When I looked back up, it was gone.

I then yawned and stretched, and then I kept thinking of something that could entertain me until Treeko and Farfetch'd get up.

I was being very quiet though.

Suddenly, a small red ball rolled slowly my way.

I picked it up and looked in the direction it came from.

A small, yellow mouse-like Pokémon with red pouches on its cheeks and it had a tail the shape of a lightning bolt ran toward me.

"Hey, can I have my ball back please?" she asked politely.

"Sure, here," I replied, giving her the ball back.

"Thanks… Umm… Well, do you wanna come play with me?" she asked.

"Sure!" I said with excitement.

"Hi, I'm Pikachu, "she said.

"I'm Riolu."

"Riolu, are you alone?"

"No, my friends are up in that tree behind me. That reminds me, we should play very quietly until they wake up. I want to play as much as I can before they get up. Ha-Ha I'm just bored right now"

"What happens when they wake up?"

"Well, we're on our way to find Lucario."

"Wow! My older brother Raichu battled Lucario once. Raichu lost though. At the time, he was a Pikachu and Lucario was a Riolu," she said.

"You mean, he was a Riolu just like me?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's your evolved form. You'll evolve into Lucario one day yourself. Eh, anyway let's play," she finished.

We just rolled the ball back and forth to each other with our tails.

We played for about one hour then Treeko and Farfetch'd woke up.

They both descended from the tree.

"Wow, you're up pretty early Riolu. Did you wake yourself up with all that yelling in your sleep?" Treeko joked.

"I was yelling in my sleep?" I asked.

"I'm just kidding. You weren't yelling. But we did hear you mumbling really quietly last night. Did you have a bad dream?" Treeko added.

_What do I say to that?_ _Hmm… I know! _

"Not a bad dream, a good dream," I replied.

"Well- Oh! I'm sorry, is this a friend of yours Riolu?" Farfetch'd asked.

"Yeah, I just-"

Treeko interrupted me and whispered to me, "Riolu, you're too young to have a mate."

I blushed and whispered back, "She's not my mate! I just met her and started playing ball with her to pass the time."

"Alright, well, back to your dream. What was it about?" Treeko replied out loud.

They all stared at me, paying close attention to what I was about to say.

I didn't know what to say.

I took about 30 seconds to think of an answer.

"Riolu, say this..." Celebi's voice appeared in my mind.

"It was about us, finding Lucario. That's all I remember," I mimicked.

"Well, at least it wasn't a nightmare. Anyway, we should get going. Say good bye to Pikachu," Treeko ordered.

"Okay, it was fun playing with you Pikachu. Thanks for-"

I started saying until Pikachu hugged me and said, "You're the first real friend I've ever had you know. I should be thanking you. But, you're welcome."

She released her hug, and then kissed me on the cheek!

"I'll miss you Riolu. And, please don't be weirded out by this but, I think you're cute," she said.

"Ahh-Uhh-Umm-(Sigh) I'll miss you too," I barely managed to say.

I was blushing at the fact that a girl was attracted to me so early.

I never had a girl like me when I was a human.

"How old are you?" I asked with more pride.

"Only one year-" she started until Treeko grabbed me by the black thing hanging from the side of my head and said, "Come on, let's go."

"Bye Riolu," she said.

I just waved back.

After that, she was gone.

Treeko released me and I grabbed whatever the thing is called.

"Oww! What was that for?" I complained.

"Sorry Riolu, but you're too young to have a mate. It's not our rule, it's Arceus'. That's one of his biggest laws ever made." Farfetch'd said.

"Yeah, you gotta wait till you're one year old. I'm somewhat amazed how fast you had female lay eyes on you though. Don't take that as an encouraging statement. And heck, who knows? You might meet back up with her in a year and be mates. But that's after you both evolve." Treeko said.

"Treeko, he shouldn't really be hearing these things at such a young age," Farfetch'd chimed.

"Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! (Sigh) I don't know what came over me. Arceus forgive me," Treeko wailed.

"Arceus forgives him, and yes Riolu, you aren't allowed to have a girl at your age," Celebi said to me mentally.

I just smiled.

We walked for about 3 hours, and took 2 breaks.

Not me though, I felt like I could scale a mountain in seconds.

Treeko and Farfetch'd were talking while I climbed a tree for some apples.

I was starving.

I couldn't help but notice that they were talking about me and Pikachu again.

It was nothing bad really, just lectures from each other about it.

I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying; I only heard a couple things.

I decided not to eavesdrop anymore; it's not a nice thing to do.

After I was finished eating my apples, I tried climbing back down the tree.

I went down one branch, but the branch I landed on snapped right off! It was a 30 foot plummet.

I slammed my back into a branch, then my arm.

Head.

Stomach.

Hanging onto a branch with both my paws.

Breathing heavily, heart racing.

Blood trickled down my arm and made its way down to my shoulder.

"RIOLU!" Treeko shouted.

Farfetch'd zoomed into the sky and flew toward me, Treeko stood at the ground below me and controlled some vines to make them rise up as high as they could to catch me.

I couldn't help but look down.

I instantly closed my eyes and looked away.

_I'm not gonna die. Not now, I haven't even lived yet. _

Suddenly, my arm started to sting like crazy.

I lost my grip on the branch, and started freefalling again.

I landed perfectly on Farfetch'd.

He flew me down safely and Treeko and Farfetch'd helped me ASAP as soon as I was put down.

I began to feel unconscious. Vision starting to blur.

Lightheadedness.

Pain coursing throughout my small body.

Treeko and Farfetch'd had muffled voices.

Then, darkness.

No more feelings, I drifted to sleep.

**CHAPTER 3**

After what seemed like forever, I awoke from my unconscious mind.

It was terrible being unconscious, all I saw was darkness, but I could hear Treeko and Farfetch'd having conversations and they were still continuing the journey.

When I woke up, Treeko was walking with me on his back.

I opened my eyes slowly and made light moaning sounds.

"Treeko?" I asked.

Treeko panicked and nearly dropped me.

"Hey buddy, how ya feeling" Treeko asked after gaining his balance back.

"I don't really know," I replied weakly.

"Put him down Treeko. Riolu, try and walk for us okay?" Farfetch'd asked.

Treeko put me down as told and I tried taking small steps.

One step, 2, 3, 4, 5. So far so good.

I kept walking.

_I'M OKAY! _

"Thank Arceus you're okay. You took quite a drop from that tree," Treeko said.

I inspected my body; under my fur were small scratch marks where I was hit.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Surprisingly… 2 days," Farfetch'd replied glumly.

"We still haven't gotten to Lucario?" I asked.

"Well, we had to slow the pace to tend to your pain. Also, since Treeko had to carry you, we had to move much slower." Farfetch'd replied.

"Riolu, you really gotta lose some weight," Treeko joked.

I just giggled at his joke.

"We're just so glad you're okay now," Farfetch'd said.

"Yeah, we were so worried about you. I don't like to see my little buddy hurt," Treeko said softly.

I just smiled and looked down.

It felt good to have others who care about me.

"Well, now that you're not a deadweight anymore, we can pick up the pace." Treeko joked.

"Before we leave, do you feel any pain?" Farfetch'd asked.

I tried moving my body around in as many ways as I could.

My back hurt when I bent down, my shoulder hurt when I turn my head to the left, and it somewhat hurt to sit down.

"Do you think you can walk Riolu or do you need to be carried again?" Farfetch'd asked.

"No, I can walk. Lemme just see if I can run," I said.

I ran, but lost my energy way fast.

Usually I could run for 8 hours straight, but now, I could only run for 20 minutes.

I was just plain exhausted after that, so , since I was way ahead of Treeko and Farfetch'd, I stood still and took some deep breaths because I can't sit down.

I got my energy back as soon as they caught up.

"How come I'm getting tired so fast?" I asked.

"Probably the medicine I used on your cuts. It slows down your blood flow really bad, causing you to lose endurance," Treeko said.

"I'm confused," I replied.

"The medicine makes you have less energy because it has to heal you," Farfetch'd said with a beaky grin.

"You should be healed in about 2 more days. But I'm going to have to keep putting the medicine on your body," Treeko said.

"I'm gonna run now." I said back.

"Yeah, we need to get moving. If we go our fastest, we should reach Lucario possibly tomorrow." Farfetch'd marked.

"I don't run that fast." Treeko replied.

"Come on, I could fly with you on my back," Farfetch'd insisted.

"Are you sure you can fly with me on your back?" Treeko asked.

"Positive, I've had to do this at flight school," he replied.

"Well, alright." Treeko said nervously as he climbed onto Farfetch'd.

"Okay, arms around my neck," Farfetch'd demanded.

Treeko did as told.

"Riolu, keep looking up to see which direction I'm flying. When you get tired, just shout." Farfetch'd added.

"Will do." I replied.

"Alright, hang on tight," he told Treeko.

Farfetch'd lifted off with ease, and I began running.

I could still run as fast as before, I just got tired after periods of 20 minutes.

We did manage to get very far after moving as fast as we did.

We ran all day, then went to sleep.

Tonight, I had a bad dream.

I was in a dark forest, and Pokémon everywhere looked like zombies.

There were one's that I'd never seen before, and there were hundreds of them too.

In my dream the Pokémon were getting closer and closer.

Treeko and Farfetch'd were asleep, so I tried waking them up by shaking them and yelling, "WAKE UP!"

Suddenly, they stood up and they were zombified themselves.

I stood back in fear.

All the zombie Pokémon got closer and closer.

I ran toward a tree and climbed up it.

Oh, just to let you know, this dream felt so real, but I never tested it see if it was a dream.

You know, like smacking myself or something.

I climbed the tree as fast as I could until I reached the top.

Not much use to it though, a couple Pokémon were making their way up the tree really fast.

Luckily, there were other tree's that were close enough for me to jump to.

I began jumping from tree to tree as fast as I could.

After I got behind the crowd of Pokémon, I jumped down and started running.

"Ha, suckers," I remarked as I ran super far away from them all.

As I was running and looking back, somewhat like the Marowak situation, I ran into something face first.

But the weird thing being, I actually felt it! I grabbed my nose in pain. When I looked back, all the Pokémon behind me vanished.

"Hey, if isn't Riolu. I've heard a lot about you. And well, I despise you." a large bear like thing with a star on its chest said.

"I'm s-sorry. Please don't hurt me. I didn't-"

"Lies, you did it on purpose. Get ready for a world of pain," he interrupted.

He raised his arm and retracted his claws.

They began to glow with a white light.

I crouched and put my arms over my head in fear.

Suddenly, it all went away. I was safe. I was… Awake!

I looked around and saw Treeko and Farfetch'd just sitting, staring at me.

"It was a dream?" I asked myself.

"You okay Riolu? That definitely sounded like a bad dream. You were tossing and turning quite a lot." Farfetch'd said.

"Yeah, it was a bad dream. All these Pokémon were chasing me very slowly and I ran away from them. Then, this big Pokémon almost beat me up. And, that was it." I said sadly.

"So, you weren't dreaming about Pikachu at one point? Because, we heard you say something about Pikachu." Treeko said.

"No, Pikachu wasn't in my dream at all. What did I say?" I asked.

"Just kidding. You didn't say anything about Pikachu." Treeko replied.

I giggled at his joke.

"But seriously, are you okay? You seem a little scared." Treeko asked.

"Well, I'm okay. Not really scared anymore. I know you guys are here to protect me," I said proudly.

The 2 of them just smiled.

"Do you feel as if you can still sleep?" Farfetch'd asked.

"Yeah, I'll try to sleep. If I can't, is it okay if I stay up and do something quiet while you 2 sleep?" I asked.

"Eh, I don't see why not." Treeko said.

"Okay, but first try to sleep okay? If you can't sleep, you can play or something, but remain close to us. Got it?" Farfetch'd ordered.

I nodded and went back to my resting spot. Farfetch'd went back into the nest he crafted and Treeko sat against the tree and closed his eyes.

"Good night," I said softly.

"Good night Riolu," they both replied back.

While they were asleep, I kept trying to sleep and find any way I could make myself fall asleep.

Nothing seemed to work for some reason.

So, I made the decision to stay up.

The question remains… What do I wanna do?

I somewhat want to talk with Celebi, but she's probably busy right now.

Plus, I have no clue how I'm supposed to contact her.

There's not much to play with in the small woods area.

Only a long dirt path and forest was around me.

What can I do quietly to entertain myself?

Draw on the sand path with my tail. _Eh, it's something._

I walked onto the path and readied my tail.

I tried drawing myself, but it was extremely hard.

With my tail anyway.

I tried using my paw instead.

Big improvement.

I always had artistic abilities as a human, now I have them as a Pokémon.

It was a perfect replica of me.

I made the drawing actual size and it had almost every aspect of my body correct.

It was missing something though, I didn't know what it was.

Something on my face.

Oh, I know what it is.

The big black spot surrounding my eyes.

I added that to my picture and it was now perfect.

Now I'm bored again. I still want to talk to Celebi.

I missed her for some reason.

"Celebi, If you can hear me. Please talk to me if you're not busy. If you're busy, just say yes or no. Please and thank you." I whispered.

I sat on the dirt trail and waited.

After a couple of seconds pass, her voice appears.

"Riolu, what's wrong?" she asks me mentally.

"Nothing's wrong, I just need someone to talk to. Are you busy with anything right now?" I muttered.

"No, I can talk," she replied.

"You weren't asleep or anything right?"

"Nope, I only need to sleep once a month. So, tell me what's on your mind?"

"Well, as you can already see, I can't sleep. I need someone to talk to. Treeko and Farfetch'd are asleep and I don't want to bother them. You're the only other Pokémon I'm friends with," I whispered.

"Well, would you like to sleep, or do you want to talk? Because I could put you to sleep with a spell I know."

"Hmm… Well-"

"Oh no! Riolu hide! Get out of the dirt trail!" "

Why, what's wro-" something bashed me in the back of the head.

Knocking me out instantly.

All I could hear now was Celebi's voice yelling, "Riolu!"

Then, my vision faded into darkness.

Just like the tree incident, no dream, just darkness and the sounds around me.

With possibly hours of time passing, I fluttered my eyes open slowly.

I was tied to a tree.

As in, a vine went around the tree several times and over me to where I have no movement.

Also, my mouth was being covered by something.

The area was mysterious though, only one tree was around which is the one I'm tied to right now.

It seemed like I was in a cave.

_Yeah, that's probably it. _

A cave with one tree in it.

_How does a cave get a tree?_

"Oh man, what am I doing? C'mon Riolu, focus. Worrying about a tree in a cave is not important. I gotta find a way out of here before the person that kidnapped me-" I began to think to myself, until a familiar face approached into the cave.

It was… Marowak?

"Well, well, well, if isn't that little punk Riolu and his bodyguard Treeko. I'm gonna have fun with the two of you," he said with a light, menacing tone.

_He's got Treeko too?_

I tried yelling, "You better let us go right now or else," but my voice was muffled by whatever was covering my mouth.

So instead, I just gave him an angry look in the eyes.

He didn't look intimidated at all with my mean gaze.

"What's the matter, are the vines not tight enough?" he asked cruelly.

The vines instantly tightened and caused a large amount of pain throughout my 2 foot body.

The vines were then loosened, and I had noticed blood falling slowly down the thick tree.

I tried screaming in pain, but like I said before, my voice was muffled.

What confused me was the how the vines tightened.

When Treeko did his vine thing, he had to do at least a little movement, but Marowak just stood in front of me smiling with his arms folded.

He removed what was covering my mouth and I began whining in pain out loud.

Then, he walked around the tree, and I heard Treeko wincing in pain as well.

Marowak came back around to my side with his bone rested on his shoulder.

"Let us go!" I shouted.

"I don't listen to hatchlings, I show them who's in charge. And I definitely won't take demands from the likes of you," Marowak said after getting in my face.

I'd bite him, but there wasn't really any face to bite.

"You're just a punk and a bully! Riolu did nothing to you!" Treeko shouted from his side of the tree.

"Shut up! You'll get your turn," he demanded smugly.

He grinned sheepishly at me and gave me a cold, menacing stare.

"I didn't mean to bump into you! I was playing tag with Treeko, and I wasn't watching where I was going and then I ran into you. It was an accident, I apologized for it too. Treeko only beat you up because-" I almost finished what I was saying, but he stopped me by slamming his bone into my shoulder.

I tried not to show any pain.

"He did not beat me up! I went easy on him! And secondly, I knew what you did was an accident. I'm just an evil Pokémon. I enjoy seeing others in pain. I only capture the ones who actually beat me when I go easy on them," Marowak lectured.

I just rolled my eyes and tried to ignore the severe pain I'm dealing with.

"You don't have to be evil ya know? You might have had something bad happen to you when you were little and now you're takin' it out on everyone else. I don't know if you have friends or not, but if you can forget this whole situation, you can have new friends. You'll feel happier than you would being evil," I lectured softly.

I really hope that speech changed his mind.

If it didn't, I'm screwed and possibly Treeko too.

Marowak had a sympathetic frown on his face.

"I-I never thought of it that way before. Maybe you're right, I can stop being evil. I can change my life around instantly. (Walks toward me with his bone dragging on the ground) The keyword is… MAYBE!" he shouted after jabbing me in the stomach.

I couldn't hold back the pain I was feeling anymore.

A buzz had spread through all parts of my body after the impact.

I began to cry, not just because of the attack, but the fact that I was going to get pummeled by this guy for no reason and I had no way of defending myself.

"J-just l-l-leave me… alone." I sobbed.

"Good idea, I'm getting bored with you," Marowak said.

He walked around the tree and started torturing Treeko.

I couldn't hear anything that was going on.

He must have done something to mute any sound behind me.

I tried whispering to Celebi, "Celebi, please help if you can hear me. Please, I need help. Treeko needs help. The pain is too much."

After saying that, I started sobbing.

No reply from her from after hours of time passing, and the torture didn't change.

He kept switching back and forth between me and Treeko in periods of 15 minutes.

I took advantage of Treeko's turns, it doesn't seem like a nice thing to do, but when he was being beat up, I found out a way to get myself out of the vines using my tail.

I figured it out after 3 times of Marowak going around.

This was our 11th time around.

I had to move my tail below the vines and pull myself down with it.

But the problem being, the short amount of time I had before it was my turn again.

_I need to get it done now, I can't take any more hits from Marowak_.

I'm weak enough as it is.

I wiggled just a little more, and… I got it!

I pulled myself out of the vines' grip, and slid my way down the tree.

I tried to hold in my cries of pain because the vines were scraping against my scabs, and pressed hard against bruises.

Finally, I was out!

I didn't make any noise though.

Also, I held onto the vines so they didn't look loose on the other side of the tree.

I slowly made my way around the tree, pulling the vine in the process.

After snooping around the tree, I saw Marowak, I'm glad he didn't see me though.

I backed up slowly to where he couldn't turn his head and see me.

Then, I got an idea.

I needed a sharp object though.

I can cut the vines, free Treeko and we could get out of here.

Well that plan was a waste though, because Marowak walked around and saw me.

I dropped the vine and started running around the cave.

"Tighten the vines!" Marowak shouted.

Suddenly, the vines had squeezed harder against the tree, and Treeko.

I tried moving as fast as I could, well it was much slower due to the pain in my body, but I was able to get away from him.

I was feeling dizzy though.

Wobbly movement, blurry vision, tiredness.

I was losing too much blood.

_No, I gotta save us. It can't end this way. _

Celebi gave me life just a couple days ago, and I am not losing it to some punk.

I stepped up my game and got past my pain, and started moving quickly.

I only got faster and faster as I was running away, until eventually, I was running at full speed.

"Get him! Don't let him escape!" Marowak shouted.

I didn't see anyone, who the heck is he talking to?

I wasn't running away, I was looking around the cave for a sharp object to cut the vines with.

Finally, I'd found a thin, sharp stalactite that would easily snap right out of the ground.

I ran toward the spike, and rammed it with my body.

Not too smart.

Pain coming back, so I fell to the floor.

I noticed how close Marowak was getting, so I'd gotten up, and ran toward my sharp object.

After getting a grip onto it, Marowak backed up in fear.

"W-What are y-you going to do with that?" he asked with fright.

"I'm going to let Treeko free, and I'm going to get both of us out of here with it," I replied.

Speaking of Treeko, I'd looked at his condition and he was beat up pretty bad.

Worse than me that's for sure.

I ran toward the tree and began cutting.

One row by one.

Just as I was about to cut the rest of it, I'd lost feel in my arms, then my legs, followed by a blackout.

That's it, I lost too much blood.

Now I'm down for the count.

My rescue efforts weren't good enough.

I let Treeko down, and myself down.

There was nothing left I could do now.

Sorry Treeko, I failed.

Chapter 4

I had awaken in the middle of what seemed like the same forest we were traveling through.

The pain was still in me, but it wasn't as bad as before.

I wobbled back up to my feet slowly, and started looking for Treeko.

I knew I wasn't going to find him, I'm just delusional right now.

I looked everywhere for someone to help me.

Not a Pokémon in sight.

I was still in pain, so I was only able to stumble my way around the forest and losing my balance a lot as I moved.

Then, it came to the point where I'd collapsed.

It wasn't a blackout, I was just too hurt and exhausted to move any more.

I lied on the forest grass, and closed my eyes.

After minutes of feeling pitiful, someone had finally found me.

She was alone, that's all my cloudy vision could see.

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" she asked.

"N-no," I barely managed to say.

"Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back!" I couldn't go anywhere at this point so that's not a problem.

After several minutes, she'd come back with someone.

Again, I can't make out the Pokémon's image due to my eyes being closed.

They had started applying something to my body that numbed me to feel no pain at all.

I didn't know what was going on during the operation, but after 15 minutes, I felt great.

I stood up and opened my eyes to see who'd helped me.

In front of me was a large, black and white bird.

I didn't get a chance to say thanks to the rose-like one because she had ran off.

So, I put my attention on the one who noticed my pain.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

"Great! Th-Thank you so much!" I cheered with excitement.

"You're welcome. But I have a question. What caused you to become so beat up like you were?"

I told her my story about being kidnapped-"

I just wanted to know, if I could- ya know… maybe-" I muttered.

"If you're going to ask if you can stay with me, then the answer is yes. And I also know that you need to help you find your friend, so I will assist you in that as well," she added.

You have no idea how accurate that was.

She said exactly what I was about to say.

"Oh, by the way- My name is Staraptor. Do you go by Riolu or do you have a nickname?"

"You can call me Riolu," I replied cutely.

"Well Riolu, we should get going then if you want to find your friends. Can you run?" she asked.

I checked my body for marks, surprisingly none were visible.

I tried running at full speed from one tree to another.

Success.

"Would like me to fly with you on my back, or do you feel more comfortable with walking?" she asked.

"Well, I'm scared of heights but I'm also scared to be alone. Hmm… I think I'll just fly with you," I said.

"Alright, climb on my back and put your arms around my neck," she demanded sweetly.

I didn't hesitate.

She lifted off into the sky and carried me on her back for hours.

She obviously went to flight school as well.

Eventually, it was getting dark and we'd made no progress during the flight.

It wouldn't surprise me though, it was already late in the day so we wouldn't have had much time to search anyway.

Staraptor flew down to the surface and created a large nest for the 2 of us to sleep in.

We got in and got comfortable.

"Good night Staraptor." I said.

"Good night Riolu," she replied.

And with that, the two of us had drifted off to sleep.

Plus, I had a great dream.

Let's just say it involved me and someone's company that I enjoy a lot.

I'm still surprised she's not busy though.

Like last time, we're in a never ending, blank world.

"Hi Celebi!" I shouted as I ran toward her.

"Hello Riolu. Listen, I heard your message and I'm so sorry I couldn't say anything back to you. I was trying my hardest, but the cave walls were too thick to send the message to you. I'm not able to speak telepathically through thick solid objects," she said glumly.

I couldn't help but feel a little… upset with her.

It was my fault that I didn't hide when she told me to, and she couldn't help it if she can't talk to me through the cave.

It's my fault this happened.

No, it's Marowak's fault.

"Riolu, there is something you must know about yourself. You aren't able to evolve into a Lucario. It's because of this round stones on your arm, there made of a substance called Ever Stone. Ever Stone is a unique rock that prevents Pokémon from evolving," she lectured.

_Wow, no questions needed except one_.

"I don't really care. I love life as it is. I don't mind being short either. Once I find Treeko-" I stopped there.

I tried hard to fight the tears.

In dreams with Celebi, I was able to feel emotion and pain.

I just looked down.

"Riolu, he's okay. He's alive and looking for you as we speak," she said softly.

I gasped.

"You know where he is!?" I asked anxiously.

"Yes, but I'm not allowed to tell you. I'm sorry," she replied.

"Well, I'll find him with Staraptor anyway- Wait, aren't you busy? Not that I don't like your company, I was just wondering-"

"Nope. Arceus is making me keep an eye out on you. Someone else has taken my old job."

"Yay! I get to see you more often! I'm so happy to hear that!"

"(Giggles) I'm glad you appreciate my company."

"Am I allowed to speak with Arceus by any chance?" I asked.

"No, sorry. No one is allowed to speak to Arceus unless they are either dead, or one of his workers. I just read your mind so you don't have to ask what happens if you die. Pokémon can live forever, unless killed," she answered.

"Do I talk too much?" I asked.

"Don't think of it as talking too much, think of it as being curious and open. It shows you like to learn new things. That's a good thing. Me however… I would be one to talk too much," Celebi replied.

I had no more questions for now.

I was so happy to see Celebi again.

We talked for what only felt like an hour.

"Well, it's almost time to wake up. You ready to continue your adventure?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready.(I hug her) Thanks for talking to me again Celebi," I said.

She hugs back.

"You're welcome. I won't be available tonight, but I'll make sure you have sweet dreams tonight okay?"

"Okay. Thanks again," I said.

My body was fading white.

I released my hug.

"Bye Riolu," she said.

"Bye Celebi," I replied.

Then, my "real" eyes were open.

I saw Staraptor in a tree plucking apples out of it.

"Hi Staraptor!" I yelled to her.

"Good morning Riolu. Catch!" she yelled back.

Staraptor dropped an apple down for me.

I caught it and rubbed it against my fur.

I was really hungry right now.

She flew back down and helped herself to an apple as well.

Pokémon only ate fruits, berries, and other stuff from nature.

Never each other though (I hope).

I inhaled my apple and waited for Star to finish hers.

"You're a quiet sleeper, I thought you said you make a lot of noise when you sleep?" Star asked after finishing hers.

"I guess it depends on the dream," I replied.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. We should get going," she stated.

"Right, let's fly," I said.

Okay, since you guys are probably tired of all this talking, I'll just skip to the day we find Treeko.

Staraptor and I had been searching for 4 days now.

It was tiring, but worth it.

In these past 4 days though, Staraptor and I have bonded pretty well.

Very well.

It was like a mother/son relationship.

She took care of me like one of her own and protected me from a punk yesterday, made sure I got enough to eat.

She even sang a lullaby to me last night because I couldn't sleep.

It's my 8th day of being born (or hatched), so far my short life is having its ups and downs, but I think more ups because I have great friends who care about me.

Plus a motherly figure, Staraptor.

"Staraptor, that lullaby you sang was really good. Where'd you learn it?" I asked.

"My grandmother would sing it to me when I was a child. I was a Starly back then," she replied.

We were flying pretty high and finally, after all our searching, I found someone who looked like me on top of a mountain.

_Could it be... LUCARIO! I can't believe it!_

"Staraptor! On the mountain! It's Lucario!" I shouted.

She flew toward the mountain swiftly.

When we got there, he was meditating.

"Umm, excuse me? Ar-Are you Lucario?" I asked.

"Introduce yourself to me first, it's much more polite," he said.

We were pretty much talking to his back.

"I-I'm Riolu. And this is my Mo- friend, Staraptor," I said.

He stood up and turned around.

"Riolu? It's about time you made it here!" he yelled with excitement.

"Yeah! But, I need your help. I was looking for my friends, but instead, I found you. Could you help me find my friends?" I asked.

"Definitely, hop on my back" he demanded.

I didn't hesitate. I hopped on, and he began to scale down the mountain faster than I'd ever imagined.

Staraptor followed.

We found them in about 3 hours or so.

I hopped off Lucario's back and hugged Treeko real tight.

"Treeko! I'm so glad you're alive and okay! I knew you'd make it out alive!" I shouted.

"OWW! Please don't hug me, I'm sorry. It just hurts a lot," Treeko said.

I released my hug as soon as he said OWW.

"Sorry Treeko, I'm just so happy," I said in excitement.

"Hey, how'd you recover so fast?" Treeko asked.

"Ask Staraptor, she's the one who helped me," I said.

"It wasn't much, I just know a friend of mine who knows how to deal with pain such as Riolu's. He talks a lot about you Treeko," she added.

"What about me!" Farfetch'd shouted.

He was joking though, so we all had a good laugh.

"What happened to the two of you anyway?" Lucario asked.

"A mean Pokémon kidnapped us and beat us up for nothing," I snarled.

"Who is this mean Pokémon?" Lucario asked.

"It was a Marowak. He was working with a grass type. The grass type was hiding in the shadows the whole time so I couldn't get his name," Treeko answered.

"Hello, Star. How's it going?" Farfetch'd asked.

"Still have a crush on me after all these years huh Farfetch'd?" Staraptor asked.

"Yep. You look twice as good now that you're a Staraptor and not a Staravia. When did you evolve?" he replied.

"Again, you're charming, but not my type," Staraptor finished.

When we all had a large talk to each other, Farfetch'd left, Staraptor thought about leaving, but I told her not to go, so she didn't.

Now, it was just me, Staraptor, Treeko, and Lucario.

And I couldn't be happier.

Chapter 5

After 2 days of RxR, we headed to an old friend of Lucario's.

Medicham.

"I didn't know you had kids. That Staraptor must be pretty lucky," Medicham said to Lucario.

They were both blushing so bad, their fur/feathers turned red(No not literarily) .

"We are not mates!" they both yelled in dispute.

Me and Treeko just busted out laughing.

Lucario explained the whole thing to him about how I'm not technically his son, only very much like one to him.

"Well, while we stay here, I should train you a little bit," Lucario said.

"Sweet!" I shouted.

"Good attitude Riolu. Okay, show me your signature Riolu/Lucario fighting stance," he said.

No clue what my original stance is, so I just said, "I don't know."

"That's fine, I'll teach you. Do exactly as I do okay?" he said.

He got into a stance, and I tried mimicking it.

I totally lost my balance and fell over in the attempt.

After a second try, I got a little better.

4 tries, I mastered it!

"Great job! Next training course will be basic combat," he said.

He taught me how to do a double kick, tail whip, pound, and bullet-punch.

They were cool techniques, but by the end of the day, I was tired and thirsty.

Not to mention I needed a bath.

"Oh my gosh Riolu, you smell worse than an angry Gloom," Treeko remarked.

"Sweaty fur doesn't smell like Roselia's Treeko," Staraptor added.

"Lucario and I know a river around here. Let's go there," Medicham said.

We all followed them to a river.

"Woohoo!" I shouted as I ran toward the river.

I hopped in the graceful, quiet, calm… FREEZING!

I jumped right out and ran toward Staraptor.

She covered me with her wing as I was shivering.

"It-it-it's f-freezing c-c-c-cold!" I whined.

"What? But the river is usually heated by fire types every day. We'll have to check it out," Medicham said.

Treeko was curious, so he put one of his 3 fingers inside the water.

"Wow! That is cold!" he yelled.

"Alright, Staraptor is in charge listen to her you two. You can walk around the forest for about 2 hours if you'd like. We'll be gone for a while," Lucario said.

"I promise to listen to Staraptor," I said.

"Me too," Treeko added.

"Good, have fun. And try not to get any dirtier please Riolu," Lucario stated.

So, after that Medicham and Lucario began to run down the path of the river.

We decided to do what Lucario recommended and walk for a little bit.

Staraptor didn't want us alone in the forest, so she decided not to fly above.

It was to protect us from any mean Pokémon.

Staraptor is the best motherly figure I've met in my life, I've just never managed to say the words, I love you.

Thank goodness Staraptors wing pushed my wet fur down, otherwise I'd have poofy fur again and Treeko would make fun of me for it.

While we were walking around the forest, someone rammed right into Treeko on purpose, knocking Treeko off his feet.

He was green, about Treekos size, and looked like a snake.

"Hey, what's the big i- SNIVY!" Treeko shouted.

Treeko stood up and the two got in each other's' face.

Treeko was angry, the other was smiling as if this were fun.

"Call me Snivel(Snivv-ul)," Snivel said.

"Treeko, ignore him," I said softly as I attempted to break the 2 apart.

"Stay out of this hatchling!" Snivel shouted. He pushed Treeko and whacked me with a vine whip.

I got back up and ignored the hit.

Treeko was flared up now.

He cocked his fist, ready to punch, but I grabbed his arm and said, "Let him be, let's finish our walk. He's not worth it."

Why am I doing this you ask?

Because this guy is puny, we could easily beat him up, I'm not the one to bully others.

I don't like bullying. It's a cruel thing to do.

"But Riolu, he hurt you doesn't that-" I interrupted him whispered to him about the bullying thing.

Suddenly, we heard yelling.

"Uh oh, see you losers later!" Snivel yelled.

He ran past us and shoved me.

3 big Pokémon were running toward us.

"Stop that Snivy!" the blue, tall, penguin-like one shouted.

Treeko almost went for it, but I stopped him.

We then hesitated.

"What are you idiots doing!" a different one asked.

"What Snivy? I didn't see a Snivy anywhere," I lied.

"Covering for an enemy, stupid kid. Let's get that Snivy," the penguin said.

I stepped in their way.

"Get out the way short stuff!" the penguin said.

"Why do you want him?" I asked sternly.

"We don't have the time for this. Move or else," he finalized.

"Or else what?" Staraptor asked with intimidation.

"I don't see em anymore," another asked.

"Ooh look at mommy protecting her little child. I'm terrified, ha!"

"Listen here Empoleon, leave my kids here alone or you're going to be in a world of pain," she said to the penguin. The penguins name is Empoleon.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Empoleon asked.

"Try something tricky," she demanded.

"How about we fight somewhere else so you can fly around," I said quietly.

Empoleons flipper became frozen in ice and he pummeled me with it.

Treeko covered him with a vine and Staraptor wing attacked him.

"Nidoqueen, Alakazam, let's get them," Empoleon ordered.

His teammates attacked Treeko and Staraptor.

They both recover from the attacks and made a counter attack.

I looked back and noticed Snivel watching.

He didn't see me look at him.

"Riolu, just to let you know I'm doing this for you not Snivy!" Treeko shouted.

I joined the fight and chose Nidoqueen as my opponent.

I used a bullet punch on him and followed it with a tail whip.

Nidoqueen slammed me with her claw, scratching my arm.

Can't swing without my right arm now.

She then slammed me with her tail sending me flying.

Someone caught me though.

I thought it was Treeko, but it wasn't.

It was…Snivel!

He joined the fight and helped me face Nidoqueen.

I ran toward Nidoqueen and pretended I was going to do a double kick, but I really did a tail whip on her.

Snivel smacked her around with a vine whip.

Nice teamwork. I then hit her with my best Bullet Punch.

She's down for the count.

Empoleon hit Staraptor with an Aqua Jet, knocking her down, and she looked hurt.

I tried bullet punching him to get him back for that, but he just used an Ice Wing on me.

I was in pain too, Treeko was down, Staraptor was down, I was somewhat down, and Snivel was up on his feet.

Scared and alone.

The remaining Alakazam and Empoleon slowly made their way toward Snivel.

He tried running, but Empoleon used Aqua jet to capture him.

I jumped in the way of Empoleons aqua jet and took the attack.

It hit me right in the stomach and knocked the wind right out of me.

Snivel was amazed at my courageous move.

"St-Stay aw-w-way from… Sn-Snivy," I struggled to say.

"Why do you care about him so much anyway?" Staraptor asked.

"He stole something from us and never gave it back," Empoleon replied.

"Snivel, give them back whatever you took," I said to him.

Snivel slid a gem down his tail and handed it to Empoleon.

He observed it, then slammed his flipper into Snivel for no reason!

I wanted to hit him so bad, and I should have because he was gonna hit me right afterward.

I closed my eyes in fear.

No pain?

What happened?

I opened my eyes and saw Lucario and Medicham beating up the two remaining punks who were hurting us.

When Lucario and Medicham were done, Lucario attended to me and Treeko and lied us next to each other.

Staraptor had the same done to her by Medicham.

I was in better shape than the two of them.

I could stand up easily if I wanted to.

So I did, and I walked toward Snivel.

"Snivel, are you okay?" I asked him.

"Y-yeah. Thanks," he muttered.

I knew he wanted to cry.

He wanted to cry so badly.

Snivel then hugged me and bursted into tears.

"Hey, it's okay. You're safe now," I said softly.

I want to comfort him the best I can.

"N-no, (Sniffs) it's n-not(Sniff). I did th-this(Sniff) to you," Snivel cried.

"No, it's not your fault-"

"It is!"

"Listen, just take a few deep breaths and relax. Can you do that for me?"

He tried it, then he stopped crying. "Now, why are you upset?" I asked.

"Treeko, I hurt him more than ever. I never disliked him, I was only jealous because he had more friends than I did. I humiliated him in front of his girlfriend and all his friends so bad, they all left him and came to me for friendship. I ruined his life. I wish he were awake to hear this," Snivel muttered weakly.

He started to cry into my shoulder again.

I then tried humming Staraptors lullaby.

She said it made her feel better when she was upset.

Her grandmother taught it to her.

I just tried my best to mimic it, and I was doing pretty well.

Snivel eventually bulked up and our hug broke apart.

"Feel better now?" I asked him.

He sniffled, then replied, "Mmhmm."

"Do you have a place to live?" I asked.

"N-no, not really anyway. I live with my older brother, but he's mean to me. Telling me what to do and stuff. I hate living with him," he replied.

"Well, if you'd like to you can stay with us. But it's up to Lucario," I said back to him.

He walked toward Lucario and asked him if it was okay that he could come stay with us.

At first, Lucario rejected Snivels offer.

"WHAT! Lucario please let him stay. I'll do anything!" I begged. "

Sorry Riolu. I can't keep taking in your friends like this-"

"If you don't let him stay, then I'll leave," I interrupted.

It was obvious I was bluffing.

I knew it, Snivel knew it, Lucario knew it, and so did Medicham.

Lucario sighed, then said, "Alright, your new friend can stay. But this is the last time I'm allowing someone else to join us. The catch is… You have to train nonstop for the whole week that means you have to stay up all night with me, got it?"

"Definitely!" I yelled.

"You'd do that for me?" Snivel asked.

"What are friends for?" I asked him.

I had a feeling Lucario wasn't really going to make me go an entire week without sleeping.

Suddenly, I noticed Treeko and Staraptor getting up already.

I also noticed that Lucario had the gem the three mean Pokémon were holding in his paw.

He was tossing it up and down catching it.

Treeko limped toward Snivy and they began to talk.

It settled a large difference between two good hearted Pokémon.

The same day, Lucario returned the stone to its rightful owner, a Mismagius.

She gave us all scarves to where for returning it.

I was the only one that wanted one though, everyone else said that she doesn't have to do that for us.

I picked a red one.

And I was happy to wear it.

I have an everlasting token of gratitude.

Chapter 6

After a quick recovery for everyone else but me, because I had to train 24/7, we said our good-byes to Medicham and left to go to a new location.

"Where are we going next?" I asked.

"Another friend of mine is expecting me, I need to visit a lot of my old friends and train you in the process. I'm sending a ticket to everyone about the Pokémon World Tournament coming in about 8 months," Lucario replied as we walked through the forest.

"8 months? That's a long time from now!" I whined.

"You see Riolu, I have a lot of people to see. By the time we're finished with tickets, it will be the day of the tournament. I will also be entering all of you in if you'd like to," Lucario said.

"OH MY GOSH! I LOVE THE PWT!" Treeko yelled in my ear.

"Yell in my good ear please!" I yelled back.

"Oh, sorry Riolu. I'm just so excited. It's always been my dream to enter that tournament. It only comes once a year. I've only gone to watch the battles once and now I'm going to be entering! I can't wait to smoke the competition."

"You guys will never beat me once I'm done training with Lucario," I chimed.

"Is that a challenge?" Snivel asked.

"You bet it is!" I yelled.

"Alright! I'll be looking forward to it!" Snivel replied.

"Whatever you say Snivel," I replied.

"Oh, call me Snivy please. I don't like that nickname anymore."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't really want to talk about it," he said.

He was looking down now, I probably shouldn't have asked him that.

I never liked making others upset.

We all look forward to challenging each other in a battle though so the sadness wore off pretty quickly.

Lucario and Staraptor just laughed as we talked.

The 2 of them did some talking themselves.

Not flirty talk, just conversation.

They were sharing life stories and adult stuff.

Honestly, I think they liked each other.

I didn't say anything to Treeko or Snivy though, I made it a secret to myself.

As we walked further into the woods, we entered a foggy swamp.

The floor was squishy, we had to stay real close really close to each other, and I was kind of scared because I couldn't see anything. I just tried closing my eyes to make it all go away.

"Riolu, what's wrong?" Lucario asked.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm just a little bit… afraid," I replied softly.

"Don't worry, we will be out of here in no time," he replied back.

He was right, we got past the damp, scary swamp in just 9 minutes.

We all looked at each other.

"Wait a second, where's Treeko!" I asked in awe.

"He must've gotten lost in the swamp. You all wait here, I'll be back in a few," Lucario said.

"Wait, I want to come with you-" I said.

"No, it's too dangerous. Continue along this path until you reach a large, thick tree. You will probably see an Arcanine. In the front of the tree. Tell him I'm coming," Lucario ordered.

"Okay, I'll walk with you two then," Staraptor said.

"Alright, good luck finding him," I said softly.

The three of us continued down a trail to a friend of Lucario's.

Eventually, we saw the Pokémon he told us about.

"Arcanine!" I yelled.

His ears perched up and he looked us.

He then ran toward me and halted 2 feet away from us.

He was pretty fast.

"What's wrong? Are you all lost?" he asked.

"Oh, no. We're here because Lucario is coming to see you. He's in a swamp looking for our friend," Staraptor said.

"Oh, I see. You-"

"No...we did not mate and have a Riolu then adopt two other children. We're all friends because of Riolu here," Staraptor interrupted.

Snivy and I chuckled softly.

"Well, make yourselves at home. I have some kids if you'd like to play them," Arcanine said.

"How many?" Snivy asked.

Arcanine howled really loudly and then out came 6 colorful Pokémon that were about my size, only a little bigger.

They all ran toward us and they tackled me and Snivy!

3 on me, 3 on Snivy.

We all did a little horseplay and wrestled around with each other.

It was fun.

Suddenly, an Eevee came out of the cave.

"Alright, settle down kids," the Eevee said.

The Eevee was a girl.

She walked toward Arcanine and stood to his side.

"Who are they Arky?" she asked.

"Hi Eevee. These are friends of Lucario. He's not here himself, he's in the swamp searching for a lost child of his. Staraptor and Lucario are not mates," Arcanine said.

"Oh, so how did it all happen?" Eevee asked.

Staraptor explained to them how it all happened in a small two paragraph summary, telling only the important details .

"Aww, that's so nice. That Riolu must be very happy, I bet he could evolve any second now," Eevee said.

The adults talked while the children played.

We had a lot of fun.

Everyone used their special powers.

Glaceon made a small playground for us using ice beam.

It was a big slide that we climbed up and slid down.

We played catch and a whole bunch of other games.

They didn't last long, and the whole time I was worried about Treeko, but just as we finished our third game of catch, there they were.

Treeko ran toward me and the rest of the kids and Lucario walked toward Arcanine, Eevee, and Staraptor.

"Are you okay?" I asked Treeko.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing caught me. Except Lucario," Treeko replied.

"Good, I was worried about you. Well, now that you're here, wanna join us in our games?" I asked.

"Sure, what are we playing?"

"Just some different games, we don't do the same thing all the time," Flareon replied.

"So, whatcha guys playin' next?" Treeko asked.

"Riolu ball," Snivy joked.

"I like that game," Treeko said.

"I don't!" I yelled playfully.

"Everyone get Riolu!" Treeko shouted.

I instantly used quick reflexes to run away from the forms of Eevee chasing after me followed by Snivy and Treeko.

Snivy and Treeko were pretty slow compared to me and all the other kids.

Flareon was the quickest, Espeon was slowest.

I kept trying to run away from them, but there was only so much space to run.

The game was intense, they were using their powers to catch up to me and eventually, it was Glaceon that caught me with and ice beam and I started slipping.

Leafeon caught me with a vine whip.

"Sorry Riolu, are you okay?" Glaceon asked.

She looked worried that she might of hurt me.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Great job," I replied.

"Okay, enough horseplay you kids!" Eevee shouted from a distance.

"That goes for you too Riolu, Treeko, and Snivy!" Staraptor added.

"Yes ma'am!" Treeko replied.

Snivy and I acknowledged her as well.

So we stopped playing and decided to talk.

We shared funny stories and told jokes.

Treeko and Snivy would work together and make up jokes right there.

They were very creative.

Lucario then wanted me to train after a little while.

We stayed with the Eevee family for 5 days now.

We're not leaving for another week now.

Lucario taught me all about defensive technique's.

Blocking, dodging and countering to be exact.

Then, he gave a lecture on aura.

Lucario showed me all his attacks and taught me a new attack called force palm.

For the next 2 weeks, I will be going over different things.

Not aura attacks yet, but aura stuff like from the lecture.

Aura vision, aura absorption, transferring my aura to other beings, and some other stuff.

Something wasn't right when I slept.

I didn't see Celebi ever since the last time we spoke which was about a week ago.

She said she'd be available.

Tonight I was desperate, so I snuck out of the cave and called Celebi very quietly.

"Celebi, Celebi." I whispered.

No response.

"Celebi, where are you? Are you busy?"

Still nothing.

Until a little boys voice popped into my head.

"Hello Riolu, Celebi's not available right now. I'm Jirachi, what's the matter?" the voice asked.

"Nothing's wrong, I just kind of missed Celebi is all," I replied.

"Well, she told me to talk to you if you ever want something. So, what's on your mind Riolu? I can read thoughts just like Celebi so just think your responses," he said.

"Well, I just wanted to check on Celebi to see if she was okay. How long will it be before she's not busy anymore?" I asked mentally.

"Hmm… 3 more days and she'll be back to talk to you. Do you want to talk to me or should I go?" he asked.

"Can we talk in my dream?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll put you to sleep now," he said.

I instantly passed out and went to a dreamland with a graceful waterfall, forest, and lots of other great scenery.

A small, white Pokémon with ribbons and a star on it appeared from thin air.

"Well, here we are, what do you wanna do?" he asked.

"What can I do?" I asked.

"Anything, it's your dream. Tell me what you want and I'll make it happen."

"OOH! I already know what I want! Could you make perfect copies of my friend Treeko, Snivy, Staraptor, and Lucario?" I asked.

"That's too easy."

He instantly formed exact mimics of my "family" whom I love.

"Impressive, now I wish I could use all my aura attacks that I don't know yet."

"Sorry, can't do that. That's beyond my limit of power to give you powers you don't already know. I don't know how to. I can make you super strong and allow you to feel no pain if you'd like," he preached. "

Yeah, I can do that. Also, could you make a Marowak like the one that beat me up please? I need to let some anger out and see how good my training has worked out for me," I asked.

He formed an impressive copy of Marowak.

"You wanna fight him alone or would you like to decrease his difficulty of fighting?" he asked.

What is this, a video game?

"No, same fighting ability, take away my super strength for now, and I want to fight alone."

"You're the boss."

I started the fight with a kick, and Marowak dodged it.

He hit me with his bone but I blocked it with my arm, then I countered it with a tail whip.

I then bullet punched him in the face and double kicked him.

He's down.

Man did that feel good, I really got a lot off my chest.

"Thanks Jirachi," I said.

"Don't mention it. Hey, you wanted your friends, what about them?" he replied.

"Oh, I guess I can lose them for now, I kind of want to talk a little bit now."

He used his powers to make Marowak and my friends disappear.

"So, whaddya wanna talk about?" he asked.

"I have a little family thing going on. I love Staraptor like a mother and I love Lucario like a father. Treeko and Snivy are kind of like my brothers. I want to do something for them for treating me so nicely, but what should I do?" I asked.

"Hmm… Tell them how much you care about them, they'll love that more than anything," Jirachi replied.

"Well-I don't really feel ready for that kind of thing. Maybe some other time. Let's change the subject and talk about something fun," I said.

"Like what?" '

"Uhh, Celebi. What's she working on now?"

"I don't really know, I forget. Oh! That's right! She wanted me tell you some stuff about you. You know you can't evolve right?"

"Yeah, she told me that."

"Do you know the reason?"

"No."

"Arceus didn't want you to evolve due to safety issues. More Pokemon would fight a Lucario over a Riolu."

"Okay, I get it now."

"Good, well it's almost time for me to go."

"Already?" I whined.

"Yeah, time flies in Pokémon dreams. Have fun with your family," Jirachi said.

My eyes shot open and I noticed I wasn't asleep on the ground outside, but asleep inside the cave.

Didn't Jirachi put me to sleep outside?

When I woke up, no one else was in the cave.

I got up, stretched and yawned, then walked outside.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Lucario asked from behind.

"Outside," I replied.

"Your fur's a mess and you haven't eaten yet. Now get your tail in here," Lucario demanded. \

He was right, my fur was a mess.

Arcanine tossed me an apple and I caught it smoothly.

"Nice catch," Arcanine said.

I took my first bite.

"Riolu, why were you sleeping outside?" Lucario said with a grin.

Arcanine, Eevee, and Staraptor were looking at me like I had 3 heads.

"Training," I lied. "Enthusiastic. Just like you Lucario," Arcanine said.

"I brought you inside because you were shivering in the cold outside. Unless you were wanting to freeze to death in your sleep," Eevee said.

"Aww, tank yow Eevee," I said with a full mouth.

"Riolu, if you ever have trouble sleeping, don't be afraid to wake me up. I can sing my lullaby for you if you'd like," Staraptor said.

I swallowed my apple chunk and said, "Okay, I will."

"Riolu, when you're done with that I want you to brush your fur," Lucario said.

Eevee passed me a brush.

"Here, you can use mine if you'd like," she said.

I finished my apple, then said, "Thanks Eevee."

I brushed my fur in front of the mirror on the cave wall in the room I slept in.

3 huge words, BAD FUR DAY.

I brushed my fur down and made it nice and neat.

When I was done I handed Eevee her brush back.

"How do I look?" I asked.

"Better," Staraptor replied.

"Can I go outside now?" I asked. "

Sure, in one hour we resume training okay?" Lucario said.

"Got it!" I replied.

"Such a nice boy," Eevee said.

"Yeah," Staraptor said.

I went outside and out of nowhere, a lightning bolt blasted right in front of me.

"Ahh!" I fell backward on the ground.

Everyone ran toward me.

"Riolu, what happened! Are you okay?" Treeko asked.

I got up and brushed my fur with my paws.

I scratched my head and said, "Yeah, what the heck was that?"

"That was a Pokémon, that wasn't natural," Lucario said.

"Why do these things keep happening to me?" I asked.

"This time, nothing will hurt you, I swear it," Lucario snarled.

Suddenly, another lightning bolt hit Espeon, knocking her down.

I ran toward her and carried her inside.

"Everyone inside the cave!" Arcanine shouted.

Then lightning bolts were flying everywhere, trying to zap us all.

It was a mad house. While we all hid inside the cave.

Celebi's voice appeared in my mind.

"Riolu, there are three legendary Pokémon on the lookout for you. Be careful. They somehow got out of there holding cells and are looking for the human turned into a Pokémon. We have no idea how they found out, but they are dangerous. Please don't get hurt!" she warned.

"If they know I'm human, they'll probably tell Lucario and the others. Then what?" I asked with a thought.

"No, they are unable to speak," she replied.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"The 3 legendary birds, Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno," and that was that.

End transmission.

Lucario went outside and evade all the lightning bolts.

We then saw the Pokémon.

It was yellow, had spiny wings, huge, scary, and was an electric type.

Zapdos.

"Uh oh! Need some help out here!" Lucario said as he was evading bolts.

I was ready to run out, but Treeko stopped me.

Arcanine, Staraptor, and Eevee all ran outside.

"Where is the Riolu?" Zapdos asked.

_WHAT! HE CAN TALK! _

"Why's it any of your concern!" Lucario asked.

"I plan on capturing him, now unless you want the same done to you, I suggest you give him up," Zapdos demanded.

"NEVER!" Lucario shouted.

He launched a focus blast at him and it did little damage to the large Zapdos.

"I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice. Articuno, Moltres, let's show these wimps a thing or 2 and get Riolu," Zapdos said.

2 more giant bird Pokémon entered the fight.

Our team was getting their butts kicked!

A zap here, a burn there, an ice blast with it.

"We can't fight them alone!" Staraptor yelled.

Eevee was already down.

"The kids?" Arcanine asked.

"No, fight them alone. I don't want to risk our kids' lives for some stupid large bird types! No offense to you Staraptor!" Lucario shouted.

Arcanine was frozen in his spot by Articuno's ice beam.

He tried using flamethrower to melt it, but Zapdos electrocuted him knocking him out.

Staraptor was downed by a bolt as well.

Now it's just Lucario.

The three birds got into a formation and they were charging their energy.

A large beam of light went straight for Lucario and blasted him.

He's out.

"Th-they… lost." Treeko muttered.

"It's up to us now!" I yelled.

Zapdos picked the four of my friends up with a lightning bolt.

We all ran outside.

"Let them go!" I yelled.

"Make me," Zapdos sneered.

"Oh I will!" I shouted as I charged him.

I readied the most powerful bullet punch I could make.

"Go on, I'll even give you a free hit," Zapdos said.

"SHUTUP!" I shouted.

I was in a rage right now.

I jumped up, and slammed Zapdos with my bullet punch.

It did a lot more damage than I thought it would.

He was actually in pain.

"Wow kid, that actually hurt. You got power. I think I'll kidnap your friends first and then deal with you another day," Zapdos remarked.

Him and his teammates easily beat my team up and captured them.

I noticed someone was gone though.

Where's Snivy?

The team of evil legendary Pokémon picked up all my knocked friends and family and left.

"I'll let you decide on their fate. You have 3 weeks to get to the Ember Mountain. It's you or them. See ya later," Zapdos laughed.

I dropped down on my knees, and cried softly to myself as they left.

"It's all… my fault," I cried weakly.

"Dammit!" I shouted.

I walked toward the cave and punched the wall, making a huge crack in it.

I didn't even care about the pain I felt.

"Riolu?" Snivy asked.

"Snivy, I did this."

"No, you're being too hard on yourself. You know it. There's a problem and you can fix it now. Plus, you have help."

"You and me are way too weak. We'll never-"

"We can try. Let's wish to Arceus that we can do this."

I looked down and thought for a moment. I wiped my tears and smiled.

"You're right, let's do this!" I yelled.

Our new adventure began, so before we go, we sleep.

Chapter 7

I wanted to sleep so Celebi could talk to me for an hour.

"You said they can't talk," I whined.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe. I have no clue why they want you. They are just ignorant I guess. But I know who can help you. I'll guide you through the way okay? Now wake up," she said.

"Wait, you're not saying I should team up with old enemies are you?" I asked.

"Sadly, yes. I also know Pokémon that will be able to help you. Wake up okay?" she demanded.

I opened my eyes and woke up Snivy.

"Come on, I know what to do to save everyone," I said confidently.

"What?"

"It's risky, we'll have to team up with our enemies, the non-risky part is we can team up with old friends as well," I annotated.

"Well, it's a start."

"Let's get going."

Celebi gave me directions to where Marowak was first.

It took us only one day to do.

He was walking and talking with a tall, green Pokémon.

"Marowak!" I shouted.

He instantly turned around and looked right at me and Snivy.

"Coming back for more I see," Marowak said.

"No, I need your help," I replied.

"WHAT! Are you joking! No, I'm evil, I don't work with the good guys."

"Marowak please, my friends are in danger. I'll give you whatever you want."

"I get to fight you afterward."

"Deal."

"We're not friends though. This is Sceptile, my only best friend," Marowak said.

So that's who was tightening the vines.

"What do you want my help for anyway?" he asked.

"I'll explain later," I replied.

"Do you know anyone else who can help us?" Snivy asked me.

"I know a girl," I moaned.

It turned out, she was really close by.

Only a mile away.

We found a tree and banged on it like a door.

In this world, there are a lot of bizarre places to live.

"Who is it?" a male voice asked.

"Is Pikachu here?" I asked.

The tree "door" opened up.

It was her brother Raichu.

"Wait here, I'll get her," he said.

He left for a minute, then came back with Pikachu.

"Riolu! What a surprise!" she said.

Pikachu ran toward me and hugged me tight.

"Pikachu, I'm not here for this, I need your help, all my friends are in danger. I'll need your brothers help as well," I urged.

"What's wrong-" she asked.

"Sorry, no time to explain," I interrupted.

"Who's next?" Pikachu asked.

"Umm…Farfetch'd!" I shouted.

"Wait, he didn't go with you?" she asked.

"Again, no explaining," Snivy said.

"Okay, who's fast? I can't be slowed down," I asked.

"Pikachu and I," Raichu said.

"Okay, good. Follow me!" I shouted.

"I'm fast," Sceptile said.

"I only need one of you. Sceptile, I'll just go with you," I said.

Sceptile and I ran at full blast to meet Farfetch'd.

We made it in 4 hours, there and back.

I'll just tell you everyone we met up with: Medicham, the 3 Pokémon that were after Snivy(Oh my Arceus were they a pain to work with), and Mismagius.

Now we're on the journey to some Pokémon Celebi knows.

First, we headed to the frosty forest for Absol.

It was terrible because of a blizzard, but we did okay.

Thank Arceus for fur.

I only felt bad for the one's without fur.

Eventually, we reached a large pile of rubble.

"Where are we pipsqueak?" Marowak asked.

I sighed with annoyance, then finally said, "Absol's place."

"WHAT!" they all shouted.

I was way confused.

"A-Absol's a really scary Pokémon. H-how'd you become f-friends with him?" Snivy shuttered.

"Yeah, Absol is evil, he's a legendary. The disaster Pokémon," Medicham said.

Absol lived in a pile of rubble in the Frosty Forest.

An earthquake started and the blizzard storm brewed even harder.

"Who dares come to my territory? You know that I, Absol, the disaster Pokémon live here and you still have the guts to come here and- Huh? A Riolu?"

"Listen, I need your help. My… Family, is in trouble. No time to explain. Yes, I'm with Lucario but he's in danger," I explained.

"Celebi, anyone else I need?" I asked mentally.

"Nope, you have no time. Fire Mountain is a long, long trip. This all the help you can get," she replied.

End transmission.

"Alright. This is it. As we walk to Fire Mountain, I will explain everything to you all," I said.

"Can we hurry it up short stuff? I'm freezing my butt off out here," Alakazam said.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Absol said.

The blizzard and earthquake resided.

"Let's go!" I shouted.

We then made our long journey to Fire Mountain.

We had 3 weeks, it's day 3.

We had no rest in that time, so we decided to get out the Frosty forest and sleep in the Evergreen Woods.

I told them all the story along the way.

There was a lot of questions asked and a lot of interruptions.

The whole night I spoke with Celebi while I slept.

She said that the birds are doubting my arrival and they think I'd never make it.

"I don't understand Celebi. Why would they give me 3 weeks to get there? They just took my family and left. Why?" I asked.

"They know that you were going to recruit your friends to fight, so they plan on kidnapping everyone else you love and torture them in front of you. Don't worry about that though. I know you'll beat them. Let's talk about something happier. How did you like Jirachi?" she asked.

"He was fun! I liked having him in my dreams. Not as good as you, but…" I replied.

"Aww, you're too sweet Riolu," she replied.

"I know," I said cutely.

Do you want me to make the time speed up or do you want to keep talking?" she asked.

"I wanna get going," I said.

"Alright Riolu. Good luck."

"Thank you, bye Celebi!" I shouted as I waved.

My eyes are open now.

I got up and woke everyone else up.

We initiated the goring expedition to Fire Mountain.

Everyone was still a little scared about Absol, but not Snivy.

"Kid, I hate to say it… But you are pretty brave, asking your enemies for help, just to help your family. That's a lot of Pokémon your saving," Empoleon said.

"Yeah, Riolu I a great Pokémon that one could look up to," Farfetch'd said.

"Riolu, I'm sorry I didn't help fight. I feel like such a coward," Snivy muttered softly.

"Don't, we'll get them all back. Together," I said.

After 2 weeks, we reached the mountains' acreage.

It was raining ashes and the gaseous fume of soot was nauseating.

We now have 4 days to make it through the rest of the way.

As we climbed up the grueling mountain, we reached a small, flattened extent of the mountain.

It was a cavern.

We all entered the cavern, and it was burning hot inside.

Then we saw 7 paths to go to.

"One of them leads to Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres. We gotta split up. A weaker and a stronger Pokémon need to go with each other. So, there's me, Snivy, Pikachu, Raichu, Absol, Marowak, Alakazam, Nidoqueen, Empoleon, Medicham, Farfetch'd, and Sceptile. One of the paths are going to be unattended. I pick who goes with who. Snivy you're with Medicham, Pikachu you're with Empoleon, Raichu go with Alakazam, Marowak will be with Sceptile, I'll be with Absol, Nidoqueen you're going with Farfetch'd," I said.

They all got with their teammate and picked a path.

I trusted the middle path for some reason, so I picked it.

"Alright, this is it. If you're in danger, show a lot of emotion so I can sense a distress signal. Be safe," I ordered.

Absol and I entered the middle path.

After 5 minutes or so, Absol finally said something, "So, you're Lucario's son?"

"No, I'm not. I don't know who my parents are. Treeko found me all alone and recommended I stay with Lucario. Farfetch'd sent a message to Lucario saying we'd be there to meet him and we made our way to him. Ever since then, we've been on a wild journey," I replied.

"You know, it's kinda touching."

"What is?"

"You, going through all this to save 2 families. Your own, and another family you barely know. It's a very valiant effort."

"Yeah."

I looked down and had thoughts buzzing around my head.

I was worried.

Absol jolted.

"What's wrong!" I asked in high alert.

"Nothing's wrong. I just, felt an aura signal coming from you. It happens when you-" "

Yeah, Lucario told me. It happens when I'm scared or upset," I interrupted.

So, when are you-"

A loud screech agonized our sensitive ears.

It wouldn't stop.

"What… is… th-that!" I shouted.

Then, it stopped as I said that.

"It's a Kabutops and a Scizor," Absol said with a grin.

"Ready for a fight?" I asked.

"You know it Riolu," he replied.

We both charged the sharp clawed Pokémon and made our move.

First, I ran for Scizor and he ran for Kabutops, but as we got really close to them we switched opponents and tricked them.

I gave Kabutops a hard force palm and Absol tackled Scizor.

They were definitely not expecting a move like that.

I then did a bullet punch on him.

Absol did a fire blast on Scizor.

He was obviously hurt badly from the attack.

I finished Scizor off with a super strong tail whip.

I unleashed all my anger out on the attack and surprisingly, I knocked him out.

I thought it would only do enough damage to stun him.

My tail felt a little heavier in the attack too.

"Ready for a simultaneous attack?" Absol asked.

"Yeah, freeze my paw," I said.

Absol shot an ice beam out the diamond of his head and hit only my paw with it.

I ran toward Kabutops but he slashed at me with his claw.

I tried to dodge it, but I couldn't do good enough.

He left a long scratch along my chest.

Blood seeped out of me.

The tear wasn't deep, but it hurt badly.

He then tried to stab me, but I dodged it perfectly and slammed him in the face with the ice block.

K.O.

I then stumbled my way to Absol's side.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's keep moving-"

"No, you're bleeding badly. I'll carry you, put your chest against my fur to stop your bleeding," he said.

I didn't hesitate.

Suddenly, the mountain began to rumble.

"What was that noise?" I asked.

"I hope it's not an eruption. We're dead if it is."

"We can't turn around now," I replied.

He nodded, then continued onward.

I had a feeling it was only gonna get even worse than this.

We kept moving, and didn't run into anything hazardous yet.

"So, how'd you find me?" Absol asked.

"Celebi helped me out." I thought.

"Just say…"

"Celebi told me. I know her. But don't tell anyone okay?" I begged.

"Wait a second. How do you know Celebi?" he asked.

"She found me lost in the woods one day and helped me. She told me about you in my situation. No one knows that I know her, so please keep this a secret."

"You have my word Riolu."

"Thanks Absol. Why does everyone think you're scary though?"

"I'm the disaster Pokémon. Everyone thinks I'm the cause of bad weather, and they don't like me. Only friend I've ever had was Celebi. I wish I could see her again. You're lucky."

"Don't worry, I'll be your friend."

"Thanks Riolu."

We both grinned and continued onward.

POV Switch!

In this part, we will be looking through the eyes of Snivy! I'm unprofessional at POV switches so please try not to judge it. I'll do my best!

Medicham and I continued our way through the creepy volcano.

We ran into a lot of Pokémon along the way.

But we managed to beat them. I

looked at my stubby hands that were cut earlier from a battle.

Blood made a small trail across the rocky surface.

"Medicham, how long have you known Lucario?" I asked.

"Well, our friendship has gone for about...20 years. I fought him in a battle once and I won. He congratulated me, then we talked for a while, after that we became friends. He tells a lot of people about-"

He stopped.

"What's wrong" I asked.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't two of Riolu's friends. Ready to be captured like the rest of his friends?" a familiar voice asked.

I looked all around and found 3 large bird Pokémon.

"That's them!" Snivy yelled.

"We need to warn the others!" Medicham yelled.

"Not so fast!" Zapdos said as he popped in front of us.

I was furious with them.

"You guys are mean! What did Riolu do to you?" I shouted.

"Nothing… But it's something he will do. We know it will happen. It's the alien prophecy," Zapdos replied to me.

"Riolu's not an alien! That prophecy is just a myth!" I yelled.

_What am I doing? I'm a coward! _

"How would you know that Snivy? How do know that any Pokémon in this world might be an alien? Oh wait, it's not like that because Arceus' prophecies state that the alien will come to be a one of a kind Pokémon. He has ever stone on his paws, he's the last Riolu, and he doesn't just emanate aura like a Riolu, he's able to use it like a Lucario. Doesn't that mean anything to you? He lied to you and your friends and his friends right in the face. I told your friends and they couldn't believe their ears. I thought they'd hate that little brat. Only reason we're after him is so-"

"He's not gonna kill us. I'll capture him," I was being brainwashed! And so was Medicham.

I honestly didn't mean it, they must've been controlling us somehow.

"Go then, you remember his path right?" Articuno asked.

"Yeah, I remember," I said.

"What about you Medicham?" Zapdos asked.

"I'm in," Medicham replied.

So, It's just the two of us together, and capturing Riolu was gonna be a disaster.

So we left our trail as Medicham carried me and ran through the whole way back.

I'm not a fast runner so it made more sense if he carried me.

We made it to the beginning in 3 minutes and went to Riolu's path.

We continued moving for about 7 minutes and finally found him.

We continued to shout Riolu and Absol's name.

Absol was carrying Riolu on his back for some reason.

"Snivy, Medicham!" he shouted.

He jumped off Absol, ran toward us and gave me and Medicham a hug.

POV SWITCH (Riolu)

I hugged Snivy real tight.

I was so glad that he was okay.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"We know where they are," Snivy said.

"Follow us," Medicham snarled.

What was that all about?

"You guys okay? You seem a little nervous about something. I sense it in your aura's," I said.

"What are you talking about?(Laughs) What do we have to be nervous about?" Snivy said nervously.

Notice how I said nervously.

"Riolu don't go with them. It's a trap!" Celebi shouted.

"What do you mean it's a trap?" I asked mentally.

"Tell Absol to carry you out of the cave and get out of there now! They're being brainwashed! I'll explain later. Just trust me and leave. Don't trust them," Celebi replied.

"Absol, I need you to come with me. I'll explain later," I whispered.

"Okay. Where are we going?" he asked.

"We're leaving," I whispered.

Snivy and Medicham were curious on what we were talking about.

"When we reach the entrance, run away. Don't ask questions." I said.

As he carried me to the entrance, Celebi explained to me that my secret was told.

Once we reached the entrance, Absol stopped and looked back and forth at the entrance and at Snivy's path.

He was trying to decided what to do.

"Riolu, run!" Celebi yelled.

I got off Absol's back and ran out the entrance as fast as could.

I had scaled the mountain downward and dodged a bunch of rocky obstacles in the way.

Absol chased behind me but not Snivy and Medicham.

"Riolu! Where are you going!" Absol asked.

"Running away! This was all a set up! If they find you and me here they'll trap us!" I lied partially.

They'll let all my friends go and make me stay.

I ran until I couldn't run anymore.

After 9 hours, I was done.

I couldn't run anymore.

Absol carried me and walked for a bit and I explained to him what was really going on.

"So wait, you're not a Pokémon, and not really from this world?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," I said sadly.

"I don't care. I really don't care you're my friend no matter what the circumstances are. Besides, I'm a human too," he said.

My eyes widened really big as he said that.

"Y-you're, a human?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, but I did a lot of bad things in my human life so I was killed early on Earth by a car crash and sent here to be hated by everyone. No one likes me and now you're in my shoes. We have no one but each other now. We're runaways and disgraces to the-"

"S-S-stop, just…Stop!" I cried.

I turned around and bawled, sobbing.

"Riolu, I'm sorry. We can make it through this. I keep in touch with Jirachi, you keep in touch with… Umm…"

"Celebi," I said after a sniffle.

"Funny, I get the one who always reminds me how bad I am. I've changed though. I really have, but no one believes me. Riolu, promise me you will stay strong," he said.

I took some deep breaths, stopped shedding piteous tears, and smiled.

"I promise," I said prominently.

"Good. Hey, was it Celebi that mentioned me?" "Yeah, it was Celebi. I just wouldn't know how to explain this to everyone," I replied.

So after that, we both fell asleep on a rock like rocks.

Anyway, Celebi and I had a long talk.

I was just a little bit angry with her.

"I thought you said my secret was safe!" I yelled.

"Riolu, the truth is… I lied to you. I lied about the fact that they couldn't talk and the whole they won't tell your secret thing. I'm sorry. You have any right to be mad at me for lying."

I thought I saw tears come from her eyes.

I sighed, scratched the back of my head and said, "I forgive you. It's just that… I'm a little frustrated now that all my friends and family are- (Gulp) g-gone."

Holding tears back for me was hard saying that.

I'm trying to work on my crybaby issue.

I'm a big kid (Sort of), and I need to act like one.

"I trust Absol you know. He's a nice guy. Arceus, Jirachi, Palkia, Dialga, and everyone else besides you and me hate him. Why do you think everyone was so scared of him?"

"Celebi?"

"Yes Riolu?"

"Could you maybe… Bring him into my dream?" I asked.

"Hmm… I don't really know, I've never tried it before. But, your wish is my command."

She closed her eyes and began to talk, "Jirachi?"

It took a while before a response came.

"Yes Celebi?" Jirachi's voice asked.

"Could you ask Absol if he'd like to join Riolu's dream?" she asked.

"Okay, I'll do it for you, not Absol," Jirachi said.

His voice then faded away.

"So, what's all this about a prophecy?" I asked.

"Arceus' prophecy states that an alien, that's you, will take over the world with mystical powers. But that prophecy was made thousands of years ago and it was meant to be untrue. There's no way of telling every Pokémon in the world that though. Everyone knows the prophecy."

I looked down and sighed.

Absol appeared from thin air.

"Hey Absol!" I yelled cheerfully.

"Hi Riolu and Celebi," he replied.

"Hello to you as well Absol (Giggles)," Celebi said.

"Riolu, why is it so dark and spooky in this place? Could you make it a little brighter?" Absol asked. I

laughed, then said, "Sure."

I dreamed a nice, comfy spring in a forest.

"Thanks, now you wanted to talk to me about something?" Absol asked.

"No, I just wanted you to be here. I feel you need to learn more about me," I said.

I told him my whole life story since the day I hatched.

"I'm so sorry these things had to happen to you. Don't worry, we'll get our names cleared somehow," Absol said.

"Not good! You two gotta wake up now! I'll do it for you," Celebi said.

We both woke up and noticed a couple of Pokémon.

There were about 6 of them searching for us.

Absol nudged me and bobbed his head to signal me to follow him.

I did so.

We slowly crept down the rock.

"There they are!" a Dragonite yelled.

He absorbed energy from his mouth and blasted at us.

We both dodged the attack and ran like heck.

"Get them!" the Dragonite yelled.

6 Pokémon were following us now, trying to hit us with projectile attacks.

One hit Absol and he began to slow us down, then he was hit again and again.

He still kept going.

Slowly.

"R-Riolu, y-you… Have to go without me," he said weakly.

"No, Absol I can't leave you," I said.

"Go! If they catch you, they will kill you. If they catch me with you, then we're both dead. They'll let me live trust me. Run!" Absol shouted.

After hearing that, my hearing went deaf, I heard nothing but a small ringing.

Then, I followed his orders.

"I'll miss you Absol!" I cried as I ran.

"I'll miss you too, little buddy.

Chapter 8

I continued to run away until I couldn't anymore.

By the time I was finished running, I nearly passed out.

It went on for hours.

I luckily managed to get away from all the other Pokémon.

Now, I'm just resting assiduously inside a cave.

Resting, relaxing.

The rock I was leaning against was uncomfortable, but I had nothing to complain about this point.

"The Pokémon captured Absol Celebi" I said.

"I know, I'm sorry. Don't worry though he's okay," she replied.

"Man! I wanted to get away because my human life was bad and now my life as a Riolu has to suck twice as bad! Why Celebi? Why did you turn me into this monster?" I cried.

"Riolu, if you listen to me, I can get you out of this okay?" she said.

"How?" I asked in a small sob.

She told me the plan and I smiled widely at it.

The plan was Arceus' and it's obviously foolproof because Arceus is the creator of the world.

The plan is…

STEP 1: Surrender myself to the 3 legendary birds.

STEP 2: Save friends.

STEP 3: Arceus will explain to the whole world that the prophecy was all a myth. It never happened. Arceus has only talked to the world in case of an extreme situation.

Celebi and Jirachi got on their knees and begged Arceus to do this for me.

Soon, It'll all be over.

I exited the cave after an hours rest and began to yell, "HEY! I'm Riolu! I give up!"

Suddenly, an innocent bystander heard me.

It was a nearby Hitmonlee that heard me say it.

"Come with me," he said.

He grabbed me with his hand and took me back to the fire mountain.

The walk was 14 hours long but worth the while.

When we got there, Hitmonlee kicked me forward to Zapdos.

"Not so fast now are you alien?" Zapdos taunted.

"With all due respect, I gave up my running and turned myself in," I said.

"Humph… Who cares. Garchomp, take him to his cell," Zapdos ordered.

A Garchomp moved toward me, placed some metal doohickey on my arms that were like arm cuffs, and pushed me into a cold cell.

"Rot in peace," the Garchomp sneered as he walked away.

Now, I'm locked in a cell.

With no one else around me.

"I miss my friends and family," I whined softly to myself.

"We miss you too Riolu," Staraptor's voice said.

"St-Staraptor?" I asked in hope.

"Yes it's us Riolu. We don't care what you are. You're are friend. Not to mention my son," Lucario said.

"Where are you at?" I asked.

"We're across from you, in different cells from each other. The birds are evil Riolu. We can't let them ruin you like this," Absol said.

"Absol?" I asked.

"Yep, I'm alive," he said.

"Riolu, I told you you'd be okay," Celebi said.

"Thanks Celebi," I whispered.

"Riolu, it's too dark for you to see us. Use your aura vision," Lucario said.

I closed my eyes and I could see a long line of cells.

The adults each had their own cells, the kids were all bunched up in two cells.

Everyone was here, Marowak, Pikachu, Farfetch'd, everyone.

"Listen kid, as much as I hate you, I'll help you out of this mess. Only because those stinking bird types think they can man handle me," Marowak said.

"You don't know how hard we've been trying to get out of these cells. It's not possible," Treeko said.

Everyone agreed.

"Have you ever tried digging?" I asked.

"Wow, great idea Riolu!" Arcanine said.

"Wait, with these cuffs on we can't use our powers," Lucario said.

"Who needs powers? I got my feet!" I said with enthusiasm.

I took my feet and kicked the concrete floor.

Man was it paniful.

We continued to dig for several hours.

The kids were the first to break free due to the large amount of them.

The Eevee kids had neck collars that prevented them from using powers.

When the Eevee kids were out, they began helping everyone else out.

I was the last to be freed since my cell was hardest to find.

When we were all done, there was a big group hug on me.

Starting with Pikachu…

"So, now that that's over, what do we do now?" Treeko asked.

"We split up and find Snivy," I said.

"Find Snivy? That little traitor!" Treeko asked angrily.

"Calm down Treeko. He still has a good heart. He's not a traitor, he was just brainwashed," I explained.

"He's not even a Snivy anymore. He evolved into Servine," Lucario said.

"I know where he is Riolu," Absol said.

"Really? Where?" I asked in hope.

We all followed Absol through the long, confusing maze-like jail.

Finally, we reached a small cell with a large, snake-like creature that looked like Snivy.

"Snivy?" I asked.

"That's Servine to you!" he yelled.

He sounded like he was crying.

"Sn-Servine, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I betrayed you. That's what's wrong. I betrayed, all my friends. You treated me like a brother and I just blew our friendship. I'm s-sorry," he cried.

"Servine, It wasn't you, you got brainwashed. Now what are you doing in a cell?" I asked.

"The birds captured me. They expect me to be their slave. How'd you guys get out?" he asked. "Digging," I replied.

"Riolu, I'm really sorry. Do you forgive me?" Servine asked.

I smiled and said, "I forgive you. Now let's get you out of this-"

"No don't! The bars will electrocute you!" Lucario said.

Arceus' loud bellow appeared.

Here it comes.

Everyone wass panicking.

"Don't worry, it's Arceus," Absol said.

Everyone stared at the roof in confusion.

Arceus shouted out a long speech about what was going on and that I'm not really an alien, I'm a straight up Pokémon.

That's a lie.

He stated that the whole alien thing was a myth and it never will happen ever.

And that was it.

Everyone stared at me like I had 3 heads.

Suddenly, the cuffs were taken off.

"Woohoo!" We all yelled.

We then released Servine from his prison.

"What now Riolu?" Pikachu asked.

"Now, we fight," I replied with a smug grin.

"FUN," Marowak said.

We all ran toward the exit and found a group of Pokémon.

There were a lot more than us though.

"Riolu, that's a lot of Pokémon, you sure about this?" Treeko asked.

"Positive," I muttered.

"Alright, on your word Riolu," Lucario said.

"Okay… 1…2…3…CHARGE!" I shouted.

We all ran out screaming our heads off like Spartan warriors and began the battle.

I took out my first enemy, a Heracross, with an iron tail(Which I don't really know how to do, it just happens out of coincidence).

Everyone else found a different group of enemies. T

here were at least twice as many Pokémon than us, so we're each fighting at least two enemies.

I saw Staraptor and smiled because she was smiling at her opponent, a Pidgeot.

She's in love.

I then got my focus back and started the fight with Heracross.

"That was a cheap shot pipsqueak!" he shouted as he readied an attack.

He almost hit me with a horn attack but I luckily dodged it.

"Riolu, look out!" Treeko shouted.

A Ryhorn was coming after me.

I jumped over him and struck him with bullet punch.

I sent another one at Heracross.

Heracross managed to dodge it, but I hit him with a tail whip.

After a 15 minute fight, my first opponent was down, but when I had to fight Ryhorn, the 3 birds entered.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Zapdos yelled.

Everyone stopped the senseless fighting.

"Oh, I see… They seemed to have escaped. I don't care what Arceus has to say! You'll still go down like I promised," Zapdos said.

"Oh yeah! Prove your strength! I think you're all talk. Hit me with your best lightning attack!" I yelled.

"WHAT! How dare you mock me! I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S ALL TALK!" Zapdos shouted.

He readied a lightning attack.

"Glaceon, use ice beam on me in 4. 3. 2. NOW!" I yelled as Zapdos tried to blast me.

Glaceon blasted my paw and I put my paw up.

The ice absorbed the electric attack.

"Lucario, I need help making an aura sphere," I said.

He came toward me and put me in the right position.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep," I replied.

He put his paw with mine and formed a ball with aura.

He also charged his own.

I now had a super powerful attack, an icy, electrifying aura bomb.

Zapdos looked mad with confusion.

"Man, sucks for you!" I shouted as blasted him with the attack.

It was a direct hit too.

It made a large explosion in the cave and we were all knocked down by the large impact.

I stood back up and looked at Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno.

They were all in a lot of pain, but not down yet.

They were all just laughing menacingly.

"Is that that the best you can do?" they asked.

The cave began to collapse.

"Nope, that is," I said with a weak grin.

Everyone began to evacuate the cave, even the enemies.

We left the enemies alone because they weren't fighting us.

But the legendary birds however, were fighting us.

They were trying to blast us all with powerful blasts but we kept dodging it.

A large rock smashed on top of Pikachu.

"Keep going! I'll save her!" I yelled.

I ran back and pushed the rock off of her.

It squished her legs and she was crying in pain.

I picked her up and continued my running.

"Riolu, you came back for me?" she asked.

"Not now Pikachu. We gotta get outta here!" I yelled as I dodged some tumbling rocks.

Now I'm lagging behind everyone else.

Lucario gave me a look that said, HURRY UP!

Unexpectedly, large rocks were starting to block my path up ahead.

"We're not gonna make it!" Pikachu shouted in anguish.

"No, I'm not gonna make it!" I yelled.

"What do you mean?" she asked with tears trickling down her face.

"I love you Pikachu!" I shouted.

I tossed her through a big crack and she made it through.

The rocks then covered the path. I'm going nowhere.

"If we die, you die with us," Articuno said.

I picked up a rock and tossed it at a stalagmite above them.

It began to wiggle.

"Missing at such a close range? You are truly pathetic!" Zapdos yelled.

"I didn't miss. I hit the bull's-eye," I said.

"What the?" Zapdos said as he looked up.

"Why you little-" he shouted.

Then, that was it. Zapdos is gone, impaled by the spike.

Now it's just me, Moltres, and Articuno.

"You little punk. You'll pay for that!" Moltres shouted.

They both began charging a blast.

"Celebi, help me out here," I said nervously.

"Put your arms out Riolu," she replied quickly.

I could feel Jirachi and Celebi right behind me, as if in ghost form.

I spread my arms forward and a large mirror wall spread out and I didn't feel any pain from the attack.

It just upturned the attack and they were both hit with their own blasts.

Fire hit Articuno, Ice hit Moltres.

Now they're both gone.

Or should I say all three of them?

"They're gone Riolu," Celebi said.

"Thanks to you guys," I said with a smile.

The place has stopped collapsing thank Arceus.

But I'm hearing a lot of banging.

It's the others.

They're here to save me.

I smiled just at the thought of rescue.

The rocks were crushed over, and I saw all my friends and family helping to get through the rocks.

Now they all just stared at me, then the birds, then me again.

They all looked at me like I just saved the world or something.

Lucario ran toward me and lifted me up.

Everyone else made a group cheer.

"Riolu! How the heck did you defeat 3 legendary birds!" Treeko asked in awe.

"I have my ways," I said with a grin.

I looked at myself in amazement. I didn't have one scratch on me during the whole fight.

"Ya know, Staraptor is really attracted to that Pidgeot," Treeko whispered to me.

"I know. Good for her," I said.

"Riolu, we were all worried about you," Farfetch'd said.

"That was really brave Riolu, saving me like that," Pikachu said weakly.

Her legs were still crushed along with her lightning bolt tail.

"Thank you, so much," Raichu said.

"Anything for a friend in need," I said.

"So what now?" Servine asked.

"Well, Riolu has some training to catch up to. Plus it's almost his bedtime. It's getting late. Say your good byes Riolu," Lucario said.

"Not yet. I still have to fight someone in return for the help," I said, looking at Marowak.

"Riolu, fighting on your side made me realize, evil is the wrong way to go. I'm gonna make up for my actions by making right decisions from now on. I promise it. And I'm sorry for torturing you and Treeko," Marowak said.

"I forgive you, still want that fight though?" I asked.

"Nah, I think I'll go home. C'mon Sceptile," he said.

"Bye," I said.

"Bye to you too," Marowak replied with a smile.

He walked out of the cave and didn't come back.

After that, I said any other good byes.

Only one's left are me, Absol, Lucario, Servine, Treeko, Staraptor, and Pidgeot.

"Staraptor, you two are a great couple," I said.

"Thank you Riolu. Listen, this might seem very hard for you, but-"

"I understand. Staraptor, I'll miss you with all my heart," I said with a smile.

I began to cry a little bit.

She sang her lullaby for the last time, and I smiled even more.

When she was done, she said, "I always thought of you as my son Riolu."

"I always thought of you as my mom," I replied.

Our hug released, and it was time for a good bye.

"If you ever need me Riolu, I'll be in my old nest," she said.

"Okay. Well, good bye mom," I said.

I swear I saw tears come from her as I said that.

"Good bye son," she said softly. T

here was one last hug, and she flew off with her newly found mate.

Pidgeot winked at me before they flew off.

I started to cry now.

"I'll miss her Lucario," I sobbed softly.

"Me too Riolu," Lucario replied.

"Well, that just leaves the 4 of us," Servine said.

"Make that five, Absol can join if he'd like," Lucario said.

"Really? I'd love to come with you guys on a journey! Where are we going?" Absol asked.

"The Pokémon tournament is in a couple more months. Riolu has a lot of training to catch up to," Lucario said.

"OOH, that'll be fun," Absol said.

So with that, we left the cave and continued our journey.

Chapter 9

After a long nights rest, we all woke up with happiness.

I couldn't wait for training with Lucario.

"Lucario! What am I gonna learn next?" I asked with eagerness.

"You're going to learn… Aura transfer," he said with a light grin.

My eyes widened with excitement.

"WOOHOO!" I shouted.

Everyone just smirked at my enthusiasm.

Lucario spent 5 hours teaching me how to absorb aura from other beings and use it attacks.

I learned how to put aura into my paws and I could kick and punch much stronger with the aura.

I'm also in the process of learning a move called Extreme Speed.

I super-fast attack that can make you nearly invisible.

I'm doing pretty suckish at it, but I'm trying.

I got the move down, I'm just not that fast at it.

I also learned iron tail since I was doing it just by coincidence before.

In a about 2 months, Lucario had finished his ticket passing to friends.

He focused fully on our training together.

"Riolu, you've been waiting for this moment quite some, I know..."

My eyes widened in angst. I knew what he was going to say.

"I'm going to teach you th-"

"AURA SPHERE!?" I blurted out.

"Not just yet. That will be later in todays lesson. First you must learn how to form aura into your paw and form it into a ball."

I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Remember last month, we were working on transferring aura into our body?"

"Uhh-hunh."

"Do that right now."

I concentrated hard and in 10 seconds, I had an aura of energy surrounding my body.

"Good, now try to move your aura into your paw," he ordered softly.

I pushed myself trying to move the energy.

Instead of the energy going to my paw, an explosion occured, and I flew backwards, skidding across the dirt.

"Oww... dammit! You didn't say I was gonna explode!" I whined.

"I'm sorry, I've never trained anyone else to learn the aura sphere. I'm not even sure you can learn the attack, but I least want you to try."

"Okay, I'll try it again," I replied with intimidation in my tone.

I hummed quietly to myself as I pushed myself even harder to get the energy back.

Suddenly, another explosion, and I flew back again.

"What the hell happened that time?!" I yelled, grabbing my head in pain.

"You're pushing yourself too hard. Just take it slow, it's not a race. Focus on charging the energy first, slowly this time," Lucario lectured.

"Alright," I gasped.

I took my time getting the energy this time. I breathed slowly as the energy surrounded me for a third time.

"Now, slowly move the energy into your right paw."

I nodded and tried again.

Again, like the last two times, it blew up in my face.

I grunted in both pain and frustration.

"You're not gonna get it on your first try Riolu," Lucario explained with ease in his tone.

"Yeah... I know. I'm gonna keep trying," I sighed.

"You do that. I want to attempt training with everyone else now."

"Everyone else?"

"Yes, I only had time to train with you before Riolu. Now I can help Treeko and Servine step their game up."

"How're you gonna train them?"

"I just will. Now keep working on that aura sphere," he replied.

"Yes sir," I said.

I learned the aura sphere after several explosions in 3 days

My training went on for weeks and weeks and weeks.

Until finally, I knew everything Lucario knew.

I know how to do…Extreme Speed, Iron tail, Bullet punch, Aura sphere, high jump kick, and much, much more.

(I know some of you out there are not gonna want to wait 5 more months until the tournament, so I'll just summarize the events.)

Me and the rest of the gang all have a great time.

We played together, and did lots of fun stuff now that my training is done.

Servine sadly left us because of a tragedy in his family that his brother came to us and told him about.

His mom died.

Now it's just me, Absol, Treeko, and Lucario.

Servine never came back to us.

Finally, we're at the tournament.

"Wow! This place is huge!" I stated.

We were luckily aloud to pass the long line of competitors because Lucario is great friends with the champions, Latias and Latios.

They've been champions ever since the tournament's first came out.

We entered the huge coliseum and looked at all the people there.

It looked like it was about 3 acres long on the inside.

Seats were piled up with Pokémon.

When we entered the main office, Lucario had a talk with Latias and Latios about entering us in the tournament.

Treeko and I were entered in the junior division, Lucario and Absol joined the adult division.

"Now the game is simple kids. There are 64 opponents in the tournament. If you beat an enemy, you go to the next round, If you lose, you sit out the rest of the game and no longer progress forward," Latias said.

"Okay," I said.

"You ready?" Latios asked.

"You betcha!" I replied in angst.

"Great enthusiasm, I like that in a challenger," Latias said.

It seems as if they take turns talking if you ask me.

"When do we start?" I asked.

"You start in 10 minutes," Latias said.

"Good, Riolu and I can go over what he's learned," Lucario said.

"Yay! I'm so excited!" I laughed.

"Alright, now pull a number out of this large bag," Lucario said, handing me a bag on the ground.

I dug my hand in and got the number 34.

"Your opponent is Piplup," Latias said.

Then it was Treeko's turn.

He's fighting a Machop.

Lucario's enemy was an Infernape.

And Absol's opponent was a Vespiquen.

We all went outside onto the battlefield.

We saw Arcanine, Medicham, and some other friends in the battle as well.

I also saw Marowak, Pikachu and all my other dear friends in the stands.

I waved at them all.

They saw me and waved back.

"Ready Riolu?" Lucario asked.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Show me an aura sphere," he said.

I tried showing off my best aura sphere and I blasted it at Lucario.

I could hear cheering from Pokémon in the stands.

Lucario absorbed the energy easily.

"Good job. Bullet punch with iron tail," Lucario said.

I did a bullet punch in midair, then an iron tail.

After 5 more minutes of training, a buzzer went off and a loudspeaker with Latios and Latias' voice was heard.

"Welcome to the annual Pokémon World Tournament! For the junior division, our first fighters are… Riolu versus Piplup! Aipom versus Buneary! Gible versus Skorupi! And Gligar versus Kirlia! " Latias announced.

Everyone cheered for the names.

It was good to not be hated by the whole world due to the stupid prophecy.

"Let the games begin!" Latios shouted.

Everyone was cheering like mad.

"Battlers, get on an arena with your opponent," Latios said.

I got on a spot with my opponent Piplup and got a close distance away from him.

Suddenly, walls from the ground rose up to prevent any escape.

"Good luck, you'll need it," the Piplup said.

I didn't say anything back, I just got into fighting stance.

"Fighters, are you ready?" Latios asked.

"YEAH!" we all yelled.

"Alright, 1…2…3...Fight!" Latias announced.

Piplup tried to blast me with water gun, but I dodged it and rushed toward him.

He tried hitting me with another but I jumped over it and slammed him with a powerful iron tail.

He was knocked down, but he got back to his feet.

"You can't beat me that easily Riolu," he said with a smile.

He then tried to hit me with aqua jet, but I collided into it with bullet punch.

The impact knocked us both down, but we both managed to get back to our feet.

"You're pretty strong," I complimented.

"You're not so bad yourself," the Piplup said.

I charged an aura sphere and blasted him with it, then I used extreme speed, followed by a knock out iron tail.

A great combo.

He's down now.

The fight ended faster than I expected it too.

Without prior notice, the walls collapsed downward and all the winner walked in the middle of the stadium.

"Here are our winners! Riolu! Buneary! Gible! And Kirlia!" Latios yelled.

We all shouted Woohoo!

And congratulated each other.

I was somewhat confused why no one was saying stuff like, Hey you're that Riolu, or something like that.

I am the last one alive after all.

"Kids, sit down in the stands while we continue the fights," Latias said.

We all did so.

We had our own long bench to sit on since we were the fighters.

The battles went on for about 40 minutes before it was my turn again.

I couldn't believe it when I saw Staraptor here.

She won her first match.

Pidgeot was sitting out though for some reason.

He didn't battle.

I went through 33 grueling battles, and luckily won each one until I reached the semifinalist, Zorua.

The crowd was going mad with excitement.

In the adult division, a Togekiss and Lucario were left to fight.

After that, the winners have to work together to fight Latios and Latias.

I started my fight with Zorua.

"May the best Pokémon win," I said in a friendly tone.

"Shut up. You and I are enemies, nothing but," he said in a nasty tone.

_Sheesh, what's his problem?_

"Ready? 1..2…3…Fight!" Latios shouted.

"Shadow ball!" Zorua shouted.

I dodged it and launched an aura sphere at him.

He dodged my attack as well.

I ran toward him with an iron tail ready, but he bit me on the tail when I hit him.

It caused a little bloodshed on my tail.

I pushed him away and readied another aura sphere.

He started up a Shadow ball.

Our blasts struck each other and collided.

The blasts caused an explosion that knocked the two of us down.

Surprisingly, Zorua and I were in the same condition.

We both stood up weakly, then bulked up.

I used extreme speed on Zorua and got a couple hits on him, but somehow he countered my finishing move with an attack called Night Daze.

It made a shockwave and knocked me back pretty far away.

I stood back up and charged an aura sphere, hoping it would land, I blasted it.

And it hit!

We were both pretty beat up now.

He made a tricky move though, I walked toward him slowly.

He looked injured as he walked toward me.

Turns out, he was faking it, then he swiped me with his claws.

I hit him back with a bullet punch.

He recovered from the attack, and used night daze again.

This time, it almost knocked me out.

Right now I'm on the ground, helplessly trying to get back up.

Zorua limped toward me and grinned haughtily.

"You are strong, but not strong enough," he said.

Zorua then charged up a final shadow ball with his mouth.

I just smiled and said, "I guess you're right. But hitting me with that thing isn't gonna kill me."

He halted his shadow ball.

"What do you mean kill you?" he asked.

"I know you hate me. Plus I can read your mind using aura." (Truth: Celebi told me his thoughts)

"You're right I did want to kill you, maybe you'd like another night daze," he said.

"Yeah, that ought to do it. But one more thing," I said.

I launched a hidden one handed aura sphere right at him.

He's down for the count.

The whole stadium went silent, then, cheers filled the stadium.

"RIOLU WINS!" Latios and Latias shouted.

"You put up a good fight, good job," I said to Zorua.

"Shut up, y-you cheated," he snarled.

"I'm only trying to make a friendship between you and I. You're a powerful fighter," I said with a sheepish grin.

"You are gonna pay, I demand a rematch!" he shouted.

He made an odd shockwave and it hurt both of us.

Then, we were both out of the stadium, we're in the woods now.

With each other.

With no one else but each other.

We both stood up weakly.

"Wh-where are we?" I asked.

"Idiot, we're in the lost forest. My shockwave must've sent us here somehow," Zorua replied nastily.

"Well, we should get out of here," I said.

"There is no way out of here. It's a huge maze. And whaddya mean WE?" he said.

"I mean, we can't live in this place without each other. You'll have to set aside your stupid rivalry against me and work with me," I said.

"I can live on my own…" he said.

I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Zorua please, don't be stubborn. Just get past the whole rivalry thing and help me out. We need each other right now!" I protested.

Zorua went silent for a moment and sighed.

"Alright, I'll work with you. But I'm in charge got it?" Zorua ordered.

"Got it. So what do we do first your majesty?" I teased.

"Don't push it Riolu. First, we need to find some food and make a shelter. We might be here for a while," Zorua said.

An unexpected growl made both of us shudder in fear.

"Wh-what was that?" I asked in fear.

"I dunno, but it sounded scary. Let's scram," Zorua replied shakily.

"Right behind ya," I said.

I walked slowly next to Zorua, trying to stay with his pace.

The growl turned into a roar.

"Okay, that sounded really close!" I winced.

"Shh… You'll attract the-"

More and more roars were heard.

"Other Pokémon," Zorua said in fright.

"Should we run now?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

Zorua and I ran side by side away from the loud roaring.

"Look out!" I shouted as he ran into a tree.

Hitting his nose hard.

Blood oozed from his sore nose.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go," Zorua replied.

As if things weren't bad enough, I got caught in a vine on the ground.

Why is it always trees?!

Zorua looked at me nervously, then at the path ahead of him.

He was trying to decide whether or not to save me.

Then, I couldn't believe his next move.

He ran on without me. I could sense guilt in his aura.

"Zorua! Man, he's so stubborn," I said.

I continued to try and free my tangled foot.

After I got it loose, I ran in Zorua's direction.

I ran as fast as I could, but there was no sight of Zorua.

When I noticed he was gone, I stopped and tried to check for an aura signal.

I found him, he's with a bigger Pokémon!

"Don't worry Zorua! I'll help you!" I shouted.

I followed his aura trail and found him cowering up against a tree.

He was cornered by a Rampardos.

I launched an aura sphere at it and hit it successfully.

"Riolu?" Zorua asked.

"Use a shadow ball quick!" I yelled.

"Oh yeah," he replied in disbelief.

He blasted the Rampardos with a powerful shadow ball.

He then used night daze.

I followed it up with extreme speed, then a bullet punch.

Rampardos hit Zorua with a swipe of the tail, then he kicked Zorua in the face.

Now Zorua is in some pain.

"Hey, get away from him!" I barked.

I sent another aura sphere right at him, then a High Jump Kick to finish him off.

He's down for the count, but so was Zorua.

I picked up Zorua and continued walking through the dreaded forest.

Now it's just me, with a deadweight.

Chapter 10

After 20 minutes, Zorua finally woke up.

"What happened?" Zorua asked as I sat him down.

"You were knocked out, I had to carry you for a while," I said.

"You saved me?" Zorua asked.

"Yeah, what are frenemies for?" I asked with a grin.

Zorua tried not to smile at me, he just looked away.

I could tell he was happy.

"So, how long was I out for?" he asked.

"About 20 minutes," I replied.

"Oh, that's not that long."

"Hey, I've been wondering, why do you always say you and I are enemies?" I asked.

"We were destined to be enemies. It's all in our nature. It's like this, you and I are both special Pokémon, not to mention very much alike. Not physically, but in other ways. You have 2 evolved forms, and so do I. Our strengths are equal. We both have attacks that only we can learn. We're the last of our kind. Our rivalry is easy to understand," Zorua lectured.

"Why can't we just be friends? You said we're the last of our kind," I asked.

"Because… You know…"

"See? See? You can't even explain why we can't be friends. I could think of a million reasons why we could become friends," I sneered.

He paused for a second "Okay, I guess you're right… But listen, to start our friendship I'd like to say one thing… I'm sorry for bailing on you earlier," he said in a muffled voice.

"That's okay," I said, "now, let's get out of this forest."

"Good idea," he replied.

"So we both continued walking through the dreaded forest.

The whole time, we were fighting off other Pokémon trying to attack us.

"Riolu, is your aura vision broken or something? I swear this is where we started," Zorua said.

"No, it's always accurate. Lucario even said so himself," I replied.

"Wait a sec, is that our footprints?" Zorua asked me.

I opened my eyes and looked down, lifting my foot up.

"Oh, whaddya know? It is our footprints," I said with a nervous smile.

"WE"RE BACK TO SQUARE ONE BECAUSE OF YOU RIOLU!" Zorua shouted in my ear.

"Alright, this was my fault. Maybe you'll have a better sense of direction than I do," I said.

"All I've got is my strong nose. But how is smelling gonna help us?" Zorua asked.

"Well, try it out. You know what we smell like right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can smell you from a mile away. That was an insult by the way," he said nastily.

"Hey, watch it. I can come up with some pretty hurtful insults right now," I said.

"Yeah right," Zorua said, rolling his eyes.

"Friends don't insult each other Zorua," I said.

"We're not friends yet," Zorua replied.

I just sighed and put my head down.

"You know why this place is so creepy right?" Zorua asked.

"No, why?" I asked in suspense.

"Well, some say it's because of a Gardevoir who was one day became angry at this group of smaller kids that would always tease her for being so mean to everyone. She was very old and nasty to everyone she met. One day, she killed the kids in this very forest, and any other children in her way. She'd lure them into a trap and bring them to the forest to murder them," Zorua said in a dark tone.

"Whoa, that's scary. Do ya think she'd come after us?" I asked in fright.

"I dunno, maybe. But the ghosts of those Pokémon still remain in this very place. They might eat us if they get the chance," Zorua said eerily.

"Now that's nonsense. (I closed my eyes to use aura vision) You're lying, I sense it in your aura! You're just trying to scare me. Besides, ghosts can't eat," I stated proudly.

"Okay, that ghost thing was fake, but the Gardevoir part was real. She did kill children in this place, she also swore that if anyone came into the forest, they would never escape," Zorua said.

"Well, let's go find this Gardevoir and give her a piece of our minds," I said haughtily.

"WHAT! Are you insane! No one has ever survived a fight against her. She fought and killed twenty kids in one blast of a shadow ball. I don't want to die Riolu," he said with pure fright.

"I think someone's a little scared. That shows how much braver I am than you," I said with a smug grin.

"What! I'll show you who's scared! I'm older than you by one year! I'm way braver than you ya little-"

"Calm down. We're in the lost forest and we can't be at each other throats," I said.

Zorua sighed, then went silent.

All I heard was our stomachs growling at the same time.

"Aww man, I'm so hungry. I could eat you," Zorua said.

"Yeah, I probably taste like wild berries," I joked.

"Come on, please stop talking about food. I'm starving right now," Zorua whined.

"Yeah, me too. WE should climb a tree and find some fruit," I said.

"Good luck, any food here is either dead or poisoned," Zorua said with nasty attitude.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I replied sadly.

"Don't worry, we just need to remain calm. We can get out of this. We can get out of this mess," Zorua said.

Suddenly, we heard a loud cackle.

"What the heck was that!" I asked loudly.

"Gardevoir?" Zorua asked.

"Good, if we can beat her, she might let us out of the forest," I said with hope.

"Yeah, if she doesn't kill us first," Zorua snarled.

"Hey, do you wanna get out of here or not?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do but-"

"No buts. We can do this Zorua. If she tries to kill you, I won't let it happen. I promise," I said with a wide grin.

Zorua looked up into the sky, and yelled, "Come and get us you old hag!"

"Yeah, come and get us! Unless you're too weak to!" I shouted as well.

We kept mocking the woman over and over again until finally, a white, red, green, tall figure appeared from the shadows.

"G-G-Gallade? Sh-She's a G-Gallade n-now?" Zorua asked nervously.

"Let's fight her!" I shouted.

I charged up an aura sphere an blasted at her.

She simply dodged it super quick.

"You two dare mock me?" she asked.

"Yeah you evil monster!" I shouted.

"Try saying that to my face," she said with a frown.

"Riolu, don't it's a trap," Zorua said with fright in his voice.

"Just follow my lead," I murmured.

I quickly used extreme speed but she dodged my first hit and countered against me with a slash of her arm blades.

I was lucky enough that it only did a little bit of damage.

It was just a small scratch.

I did a backflip and moved to Zorua's side.

"Good backup you're giving out here!" I shouted at him.

"Sorry Riolu, I'm just scared Is all," he replied shakily.

"Don't be afraid, If you don't fight, she'll kill both of us," I muttered.

"You're right! How about this you old hag!" Zorua shouted as he blasted at her with a shadow ball.

I followed him with an aura sphere.

Neither attacks hit, so we tried two more blasts.

Another miss.

"Riolu, she's too fast. We can't fight her like this," Zorua complained.

Suddenly, she blasted at Zorua with a Shadow Ball.

I pushed Zorua out of the way and blasted an aura sphere at her.

Finally, a hit.

But I still have her attack coming after me, but Zorua hit a shadow ball with a shadow ball and knocked out of the way.

"Thanks," I said.

Gallade recovered from the hit.

Now, she looked mad as ever.

She ran toward me and tried to slash me.

I dodged it and iron tailed her.

Zorua helped by using a powerful shadow ball.

She looked like she was in a lot of pain now.

I hit her with a point blank aura sphere, Zorua followed me with a Night Daze.

Then, a bullet punch!

Bite!

Aura sphere!

Fury Swipes!

And finally, we stood side by side and combined blasts.

The shadow aura sphere.

I walked toward her and aimed at her point blank in the face.

"How do we get out here!" I shouted.

"I'll never tell you!" she shouted back.

I kicked her with the blast still in my hand.

"This blast will kill you, now tell me how the heck we get out of here!" I shouted even louder than before.

"Alright, if you spare me, I'll teleport you out of here."

She wasn't lying.

I absorbed the energy from the blast I had ready and calmed down.

"Teleport us now," Zorua ordered.

"Okay, grab my arm blades," she said.

We both did so as she kneeled down for us.

Then, we vanished.

When we were done, we were outside the forest, not back at the stadium.

But she was gone. It's just me and Zorua.

"Do you know where the stadium is from here?" I asked him.

"Not from here, sorry," Zorua replied.

"That's okay, we can find someone who can help us," I said.

"I hope so. But could we find some food first please? I'm starving."

I climbed a tree for some apples.

We inhaled the apples too.

When we became full, we stopped eating and looked around for Pokémon.

Sooner or later, we found someone in a tree.

It was a Pokémon I didn't know of.

"Umm… Hello? You in the tree?" I asked nervously.

She looked down at us and plopped down to the ground.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Do you know where the stadium is from here?" I asked.

Man, she looked just like a smaller version of Pikachu, only a lot different, but cute.

I know Pikachu would kill me if she found out that I had a crush on another girl though.

She had pouches on her cheeks and looked like she had a flight suit on.

"Yeah, I know where the stadium is. Follow me. I'm Emolga, do you guys have nicknames or are you just Riolu and Zorua?" she asked.

"Nope, no nicknames," Zorua said.

"Well, it's nice to meet you then Riolu and Zorua," Emolga said in a friendly tone.

"Nice to meet you too Emolga," I replied with a friendly smile.

I couldn't help but notice she was staring at Zorua.

She likes him, I can see infatuation in her aura.

I just giggled to myself quietly.

"What's so funny?" Zorua asked.

"Oh it's nothing, I just thought of a joke my friend Treeko told me once," I replied.

"Well, okay… Let's get going now," Zorua rushed.

"Yeah, let's get moving. Lead the way Emolga," I said.

"Gotcha, follow me," she said.

And with that, we walked for a long distance.

And I mean a long distance.

After 60 minutes of running/flying, we still didn't reach the tournament.

After that long run/fly, we went to sleep because it got late.

Tonight, I wanted to talk to Celebi, but she wasn't there to talk to.

She left a note on paper that read:

Dear Riolu,

Sorry, but I will not be in your dreams for two whole weeks. A grave tragedy has occurred in the Afterlife and Arceus needs my help. Jirachi won't be available either, but feel free to control your dreams as you please. Just imagine, and it will happen. Have fun with Zorua!

Sincerely, Celebi

"Control my dreams eh? Okay, I want to be in a forest. With lots of Pokémon to fight, 5 big Pokémon, and 5 smaller Pokémon," I said.

Without a doubt, the wishes come true.

The 5 big Pokémon were Quilava, Samurott, Vespiquen, Venosaur , and Ambipom.

The kids were Tyrogue, Trapinch, Chimchar, Jolteon, and Gligar. (Chimchar and Gligar were two of my opponents from the tournaments)

"I want to be on a stadium instead of a forest," I said.

My wish is granted. I want to fight Trapinch and Chimchar and I want Zorua at my side," I said.

I got my wish again, but this time, it fluked.

"Wh-What the? Where am I?" Zorua asked.

He then looked at me.

"Riolu?" he asked in deep confusion.

"Hi Zorua… Well, this is odd. Why are you in my dream?" I asked.

"That's a good question…" Zorua said.

"Well, now that you're here and probably have no way of getting back to your dream, do you wanna train with me?" I asked.

"You can control your own dreams?" he asked.

"Yep, it's all in the mind," I replied.

"(Sigh) I guess I might as well join your little training session. But after this, I want you to dream something for me," he replied.

"Sure thing buddy!" I shouted with excitement.

When we finished training, Zorua asked me to make his long lost mother, Zoroark.

Zorua had to explain to me what she looked like.

It was difficult to do, but I eventually managed to make a perfect duplicate after Zorua drew a picture of his mother in the imaginary dream sand.

"Wow, she looks… Amazing…" I couldn't help but notice tears coming from Zorua.

I tried begging Arceus mentally to let this Zoroark take the exact form of his mother, personality wise.

"Zorua?" she asked. "Mother?" Zorua asked back.

He ran toward her and gave her a big hug.

He was sobbing.

"Riolu, you did it. You made an exact replica of my mom!" he cried.

"You're welcome," I replied.

So with all that time he spent with his mother, the dream ended after 4 more hours. And that was it, no more dream…

Chapter 11

When we woke up, Zorua seemed a little disappointed, but he was okay.

"So Emolga, how old are you?" I asked, hoping she was my age.

"I'm only 2 years old, like Zorua," she replied with a flirty look in her eyes.

When I say flirty I don't with mean me, I'm talking about Zorua.

"Zorua, I think she likes you," I whispered in his ear.

"What!" he muttered back.

"I see it in her aura. She likes you…"

"You and your aura stuff."

"It's true," I said out loud.

"It is not!" he denied with a raised voice.

"What's true?" Emolga asked.

"It's personal stuff Emolga. I'm sorry," I said.

"Emolga, I think you're cute," Zorua said aloud.

"Wow, Z-Zorua. I think you're cute too," she said.

She looked away and hid her blushing face.

"Told you," I whispered.

"We'll talk about this later," Zorua said.

I just rolled my eyes, shook my head, and smiled.

The whole time, we were making small talk with each other.

We walked for hours and hours and made several breaks.

It's our fifth 30 minute break now.

Right now I'm off in the sidelines, looking for some good berries and apples.

I found a very bitter berry and spit it out instantly.

Zorua just laughed at me, then I threw some berries at him.

"Alright, chill!" he shouted.

"Riolu, me and Zorua wanna talk in private if that's okay with you," Emolga pleaded.

"Oh, alright. You two have fun, I'm just gonna climb that tree back there," I said.

"Thanks Riolu," Zorua said.

I walked away and climbed the tree I said I would.

I tried closing my eyes to see what emotions they were having.

They were both pink clouds.

"Such a cute couple. Just like me and Pikachu," I said to myself.

I tried my best to hear what they were saying, but I couldn't get out a word.

I sat there the whole time thinking to myself about Zorua's mother.

She was real in that dream.

There's no way I could've done that alone.

It was Arceus helping me.

He really is looking after me.

I wonder how old I am.

I'm 10 months old!

2 more months and I can date Pikachu!

And it's my birth-I mean…Hatchday.

Out of the blue, I noticed my fur felt like it was burning.

Itching.

I started to scratch my body and man did it hurt afterward.

Suddenly, I'd fallen out the tree and hit my head hard on the ground.

"RIOLU!" they both yelled as they ran toward me.

"You okay Riolu?" Zorua asked.

"Y-yeah, I th-think so," I said weakly, barely keeping my consciousness.

My vision felt weird though.

My eyes were open but all I could see were Zorua's and Emolga's aura.

I tried closing my eyes, when I did, I saw nothing but plain darkness.

I weakly stood to my feet and lost it.

"I can't see a thing! All I can see is stupid aura!" I shouted.

"Riolu, just calm down. When we find Lucario, he'll know what to do," Zorua stated calmly.

Now, I'm feeling dizzy.

Getting Lightheaded.

Drowsy.

Feeling Sleepy.

That's it, I fell down and passed out.

No dream, no nothing.

Just darkness… Still itchy too.

After 2 days, I had awaken from my tragic slumber.

I grabbed my head in pain.

I couldn't help but notice blood stains on my chest.

"Riolu, thank Arceus you're awake!" Treeko yelled.

"Treeko?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's us. Zorua saved your life when you passed out," Emolga said.

I sat up and noticed everyone that knows me in the cave.

"Wh-where's Zorua?" I asked, looking for my best frenemy.

"Right here," he said.

"Thanks Zorua. For everything," I said weakly.

I swear he was crying, but he didn't show any tears.

I saw him and Emolga side by side now, giving each other goo-goo eyes.

"Riolu, I can't believe you survived the lost forest!" Absol cheered.

"Yeah, Zorua told us every last detail," Pikachu added.

"I'm just glad my little boy is okay," Staraptor said.

I just blushed behind my fur.

Itchiness is coming back.

"Ugh, what is that annoying itchy feeling!" I shouted.

"Poison ivy," Lucario replied.

"Well, it hurts," I said.

I was ready to scratch, but Lucario stopped me.

"Don't scratch, you'll only make it worse. I've applied a special medicine to the itching spots. It will make you want to scratch more at first, but it will only heal if you don't scratch it," Lucario explained.

I couldn't help but notice my vision.

"Hey, m-my vision's back to normal," I said in excitement.

"All I had to do was give you some aura from me," Lucario said.

"We went through 2 battles without you Riolu. Both were big Pokémon. Lucario, Treeko and Absol saved us from one and saw that you were with us," Zorua said.

"Well that's good. Who was the first opponent?" I asked.

"It was an Escavalier. But that's not important right now," Zorua replied.

"So, about the tournament…" I said.

"You and Zorua will be fighting Latias, I will be fighting Latios," Lucario said.

"Really! When?" I asked with excitement.

"Hopefully next week. I also have to get you enrolled in school after you become one year old," Lucario said.

"Aww man," I said with disappointment.

"Don't worry, you'll be in the same school as me," Zorua said.

"Ooh, good. I'll have a friend in school," I said.

"Well, now that I've recovered(I stand up and brush myself off)… Who wants to battle?" I asked.

"Okay, who do you want to battle?" Lucario asked me.

"Well, I should train for the fight with Latias. Latias is a flying type. I think I'll face off with Staraptor or Pidgeot," I said.

"Alright, but don't cry if you get hurt," Staraptor joked.

"I want Zorua to help me though," I added.

"Now that's not fair. I think someone should help Staraptor in battle. She's not legendary after all. Treeko, you help her by riding on her back and shooting bullet seeds at them. It will increase their projectile evasion," Lucario said.

"Okay," Treeko replied.

"You ready Zorua?" I asked.

"I was born ready," he replied.

So we had our small practice battle, me and Zorua win and we all have a small rest afterward.

I, of course, am still pumped.

The next few weeks, we all had a small party every day.

Everyone stayed until the day of the tournament.

When we got there, Zorua, Lucario, and I entered the large stadium.

It seemed as if more people are here than last time.

Everyone was cheering like mad.

Latias and Latios entered the battlefield.

"So, I'm facing you two huh? How does it feel to be the finalists?" Latias asked.

"Feels great! I can't wait for the battle!" I said with an excited tone. "Yeah, I love knowing the fact that we got this far," Zorua said. "You two ready? The battle begins in 30 seconds," Lucario asked.

"Was I hatched 10 months ago?" I asked.

"Good answer."

"Get in your positions," Latios ordered.

We all did as we were told.

"Riolu, like we trained," Zorua said.

"I know that," I replied.

"The battle begins in.. GO!" Latias counted.

Latias flew toward me and tried hitting me with his wing, I dodged it and tried a tail whip.

He dodged that, spun around in flight, and slammed me with his wing.

Zorua used a shadow ball.

Latias flew over it, but I launched an aura sphere at him from behind.

Direct hit. It wasn't that powerful though.

"Riolu, plan A!" Zorua shouted.

"Got it!" I replied.

We awaited Latias to strike again.

Latias swooped down after Zorua and tried slamming into Zorua.

Zorua jumped over Latias and landed on his back, then he used a powerful shadow ball at point blank range.

I followed it up with an aura sphere.

When my aura sphere hit, it didn't hit Latias, it hit Zorua.

Zorua fell off Latias and shook it off.

"Nice job Riolu!" he shouted at me.

"Sorry," I replied.

Latias was charging a blast.

Me and Zorua looked at each other and nodded.

I got my aura sphere ready, Zorua got his Shadow ball ready.

We both waited for Latias to attack.

When Latias blasted at me, Zorua shot his shadow ball toward the Hyper beam.

We spent all week trying out this technique.

When he shoots his shadow ball at a blast, It will help stop the oncoming attack, then I come out with my aura sphere and hopefully we beat the impact.

I finished the attack with a great aura sphere.

Direct hit.

I had two choices, one being attack Latias and two being make a strong impact and hope that ours is better.

So far, we're losing the impact battle.

His blast was getting really close to me.

We kept trying to put our blasts forward but we couldn't go any more.

I decided it was time to do something dirty.

I'll regret it later, but right now this is a matter of me and Zorua winning this tournament.

I let the attack go for one second, blasted another aura sphere at Latias, then went back to pushing this other aura sphere.

It hit Latias who was currently in the air.

He got distracted and me and Zorua went all out.

Our blasts pushed past his Hyper Beam and hit him.

It was a huge boom and he fell from the sky.

We'd won.

Everyone looked amazed with us.

"Riolu? What's wrong with your body?" Zorua asked.

"Whaddya mean?" I asked.

"I can see aura coming out of your body," Zorua said.

"I'm just excited is all. That was a lot of power I just used," I replied.

"Well, it looks kind of bad if you ask me," Zorua said.

"Alright, I'll transfer it to Lucario. Lucario! Take this aura for me please!" I shouted.

Lucario walked toward me and placed his hand on my head.

He then absorbed all the excess aura from me.

"You did a good job on the fight Riolu," Lucario said to me.

"Thanks! I'm so hyped up, I could fight the whole stadium if I wanted to!" I said, while jumping up and down with excitement.

"Calm down Riolu, I still have to win my battle. If I don't win, then it's up to you two to fight Latios," Lucario said.

"Lucario, I'm confused, what happened to the whole team thing? I thought it was supposed to be just you and me?" I asked.

"They changed it up a bit for you and Zorua," Lucario said.

"Well, enough talk. It's your turn in battle. I'm gonna go help Latias," I said.

I walked toward him and asked, "Are you okay?"

He didn't look to good right now.

He looked was in a lot of pain.

"Yes, I am fine. You two did a great job in battle," he replied weakly.

"Thanks," Zorua said.

"And thank you for giving me a great battle," he replied.

A rescue team came and lifted Latias up and took her away to heal her wounds.

"Are you ready Lucario?" Latios asked.

"I was born ready," Lucario replied.

Me and Zorua sat on a bench and were ready to watch a great battle.

Latios is way stronger and faster than Latias.

The two of them got ready.

Lucario in fighting stance, Latios in position.

"Fight!" Latios yelled.

She tried to blast Lucario with a Hyper Beam similar to the one me and Zorua had to face.

Lucario strafed to the side, then tried launching an aura sphere. He then ran toward Latios.

Latios flew toward Lucario and dodged a powerful High Jump Kick.

Lucario turned around and tried another aura sphere.

Another miss.

Latios tried thunder on Lucario.

He did a backflip and dodged it.

But Latios was quick.

He used a Dragon Claw on Lucario and did some damage.

He swooped around and used Flamethrower.

Lucario took that attack as well.

He rested a bit, then got his game face on.

He summoned a Focus Blast (A move that I don't know yet) and sent it flying toward Latios.

Then he used Dragon Pulse (Another move I don't know yet) on Latios.

Latios managed to dodge the focus blast but not the Dragon Pulse.

It did quite some damage on Latios.

Lucario followed it up with Extreme Speed.

Latios didn't fall for it though, he slammed his wing hard into Lucario.

And hit him with a powerful Hyper beam.

Lucario, is down for the count.

"Lucario!" I shouted as I ran toward him.

"Riolu, I can't fight anymore. It's up to you and Zorua. You two be careful. I weakened him for you," Lucario said.

He grabbed my paw with his paw and we both smiled at each other.

Our paws separated when the rescue team came for Lucario.

"Good luck you two!" Lucario shouted as he got lifted away.

"Alright Zorua, we can do this. We just gotta use our greatest strategy," I said.

"Which plan?" he asked.

"Plan D," I replied with a grin.

We got into positions and stood side by side.

Latios just stared at us.

"I will try to go easy on you," Latios said.

"We don't want easy, we want a challenge," I replied.

"Okay, your choice," Latios said with a wink.

"Remember plan D?" I muttered to Zorua.

"I remember," he muttered back.

"Ready? Set? GO!" Latios yelled.

We began our first attack.

Latios rushed toward us with a double wing attack.

I grabbed Zorua and threw him over Latios.

Zorua did his shadow ball in midair.

I just ducked so Latios wouldn't hit me.

I couldn't help notice the crowd going wild.

When Zorua was all the way over Latios, he got in his battle stance.

I stood up and got into mine.

I sent an aura sphere at Latios, but he somehow smacked it back at Zorua.

"Zorua look out!" I shouted.

I pushed him out of the way and took the attack.

It was unreal how he did that.

The rest of the fight was grueling.

A hit there, a miss here.

It was madness.

Latios had noticed our strategy.

Teamwork.

When we both stood side by side, he tried to swoop down on us, but instead he turned around swiftly and blasted both of us with a Hyper Beam.

We both lost… Now we lay on the ground next to each other.

Me and Zorua were just smiling at each other faintly.

We were pleased with our boundless teamwork.

The effort was limitless.

We were lifted up by two rescuers and were aided with the best treatment.

Zorua and I just relaxed.

When we were done being treated, Zorua and I went to meet up with our friends, as well as the other contenders.

When we said our goodbyes to our old friends, Zorua and I had a private talk.

"So, Zorua. I was wondering if you might like to join me on my journey," I said.

"Sorry, Riolu. I've got a family to be with. I'll see you at school though," Zorua replied.

"Well, I guess this is good bye until then," I said.

"Yeah…"

We both gave each other a hug and said goodbye.

Our hug then parted shortly afterward.

"I'll miss you Zorua. Thanks for saving me," I said.

"Thanks for being my friend," Zorua replied.

As he walked away, I yelled, "See you at school!"

He just waved back.

That's it, he's gone for two months now.

He walked away with his girlfriend Emolga and his friends, and left.

"He's such a great friend," I said to myself.

Latios congratulated me and Zorua already, so me and my family headed home ourselves.

"Riolu, you were outstanding! The way you fought with teamwork. You did a fascinating job," Lucario said.

I just scratched my head.

"You trained me well!" I said.

"That's true. You'll miss Zorua huh?" Lucario asked.

"Yeah, he's a great friend. Almost like another brother," I said.

"He'll be back in your life soon Riolu," Absol said.

"Yeah that's true," I said sadly.

"Don't be so down Riolu, he's not gone forever. It's like all our other friends," Treeko chimed in.

"You're right about that. I can't wait to go to school in that case!" I shouted.

We all laughed and walked all the way back home.

Two months passed like two days, and it was time for school!

Chapter 12

When it was time for school, Lucario told me to stand next to the ocean and wait for a Wailmer to pick me up.

I just sit down next to the ocean, humming Staraptors lullaby.

It almost put me to sleep with its soothing melody.

I stopped after I shut my eyes for a couple seconds.

I was still tired though after waking up at 7AM.

After 5 minutes, my ride had appeared with a Chimchar, a Buizel, an Tepig, and a Shuppet.

"Hey there! I'm you're rider, are you Riolu?" he asked politely.

I knew he had to be joking with me considering the fact that I am a Riolu.

"That's me!" I replied.

"Hop on then!" he said nicely.

I hopped on his back and noticed the 4 other kids, none being Zorua.

"Hey there. I'm Tepig," a red pig like creature on the right of me politely greeted.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Riolu. And who are you guys?" I asked.

"Shut up loser," the Chimchar said rudely.

Tepig was the only one who didn't laugh at the mean comment.

The other kids did.

"Hey, be nice to each other!" Wailmer ordered.

I just remained silent.

I didn't want to give them a piece of my mind.

They began to whisper to each other, I just ignored them.

Suddenly, I noticed a hot feeling on the tip of my tail.

It felt like…

_FIRE!_

I tried blowing and putting it out with my paws.

When that didn't work, I dipped my tail into the water.

My tail was charred and sizzling at the tip now.

I just growled angrily at the kids.

They just sat there laughing their little heads off.

"Don't worry, they do this to me all the time. You get used to it after a while," Tepig groaned.

"Well, I'm not tolerating it. They are gonna get it one way or the other. Even if it means battling them myself," I said haughtily.

"Or just tell on them," Tepig said with a nervous smile.

I just looked at him in disbelief.

"Do you kids know who I am? I'm the one that saved this dang world from the Legendary birds! I'm the one who almost won the Pokémon tournament. I'm the one who survived many different forms of torture. And if you three think you can mess with me, then you've another thing coming!" I snapped.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Chimchar asked, getting in my face.

"I'll show you three after school," I replied with a smile.

Then I just walked back and sat next to Tepig.

The whole rest of the trip, we were all silent.

When we got to school we hopped onto an island with a large building that looked human made.

It looked like school when I was human.

I didn't know that at this point, with my memory gone anyway.

I walked to my first class and looked for Zorua.

Tepig left to somewhere else.

The first person I saw though, was Pikachu!

"Hey Pikachu!" I shouted.

I ran toward her.

She was just talking with some of her friends.

"Ooh, is this him?" a Kirlia asked.

"Yep, my boyfriend!" Pikachu replied.

"He's perfect for you Pikachu," a Minun said.

"Hey Pikachu, have you seen Zorua anywhere?" I asked.

"No, I haven't sorry Riolu," Pikachu moaned.

"Don't worry about it, I'll find him eventually," I said.

I was about to walk away, but Pikachu stopped me.

"Riolu, you're my boyfriend now, so you have to give me a hug every time we leave each other," Pikachu said.

I just groaned silently and did so.

She gave me a peck on the cheek and said, "Bye honey bunch!"

I just walked away and looked for Zorua some more.

I continuously asked people if they've seen Zorua anywhere.

Their answers were always no.

One kid said that Zorua was in his Dark class.

"Do you know where he might be now?" I asked the Poochyena.

"C'mon, follow me," he said.

I did as he told me to.

We went inside, and the school was crammed with kids everywhere.

Eventually, we reached a door that said: Principal's Office.

We entered inside and talked to the principal.

"Excuse me, Mr. Dragonair? My friend here is looking for Zorua, do you know where he might be?" Poochyena asked.

"No greeting? I don't believe I've met you before," Mr. Dragonair said, looking at me.

"Oh, I'm so sorry sir! I'm Riolu," I greeted.

"You're the Riolu who fought the legendary birds and almost won the tournament? Well it is a pleasure meeting you Riolu. I watched the whole battle. You were marvelous. I'm positive you'll do great in this school," he said.

"Thank you. Now, I'm looking for my friend Zorua, do you know where he is right now?" I asked.

"Yes, he's in room 112. Poochyena knows where that is," Dragonair said.

"Right, thank you very much!" I said.

"Wait, before you go, you need someone to show you all your classes. You will have 3 classes, Fire, Water, and Grass. I'll send in my assistant."

He walked out and brought back in a Luxio.

"C'mon Riolu, I'll show you your classes, but first let's go meet Zorua," Luxio said.

"Thanks Luxio," I said.

"Please, call me Sparky."

"Alright Sparky," I replied.

So we walked all the way to room 112.

We entered the door, and I noticed Zorua talking to three other Pokémon.

One of them was Emolga.

"Oh, hi Riolu!" Zorua called.

"Just thought I'd drop in and say hello. How's it going?" I asked.

"Good, I've got a relationship now. My family is healthy. How've you been?" he asked.

"Great, I'm in a relationship with Pikachu right now. My family is great, and I'm excited for my first day at school," I replied.

"Good for you, now don't handle any bullies yourself okay? Just come get me and I'll take care of them," Zorua joked.

We all just laughed at his remark.

"Just kidding Riolu, tell a teacher or other grown up," he said.

"I will," I replied.

"You should get going, class starts in 5 minutes," Luxio said.

"Alright, bye Zorua. It's good to see you again," I said.

"See you at lunch time!" he shouted as we walked out the door.


End file.
